tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/homelessness-10211/articlesHomelessness – The Conversation2019-02-04T14:28:40Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1111112019-02-04T14:28:40Z2019-02-04T14:28:40ZRough sleeping is on the decline, so why does it seem like there are more homeless on the streets?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257019/original/file-20190204-193226-kmsvud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;rect=35%2C88%2C5861%2C3395&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/nottinghamenglanduk-january-08th-2019-homeless-people-1278329659?src=B3fOfNdmN9rPo81TqZkcKw-1-48">Ian Francis/Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The latest official count of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-in-england-autumn-2018">rough sleepers</a> across England found a 2% reduction from 2017 to 2018. But walking past snow-covered sleeping bags on the pavement of the UK’s major cities, it’s hard to believe that there’s been any improvement. </p>
<p>Context is important here: the total number of people estimated to be rough sleeping on a given night in 2018 is 4,677 – that’s 74 fewer people than the previous year. In cities where people move for work and opportunity, including London, Manchester and Birmingham, the figures are up - again. In any case, the count of rough sleepers should be approached with caution. These figures are only a snapshot, a head count taken in every local authority in England on a given night. </p>
<p>While it’s useful for councils to know, at a given point, how many people are homeless on the street, the data does not capture the movement of rough sleepers throughout the year, nor provide a clear picture of the number of people in need and what challenges they’re facing, such as poor physical and mental health, difficulties in accessing healthcare, education and employment and feelings of anxiety and hopelessness. </p>
<h2>A complex issue</h2>
<p>There are some areas where the number of rough sleepers in 2018 appeared to fall – drastically so in some cases. For example, in Brighton and Hove there were 114 fewer homeless people counted in 2018 than 2017, representing a 64% reduction. Yet in the London borough of Westminster, 306 people were counted sleeping rough – an increase of 41% from 2017. In my city, Leicester, the official count recorded is 31, the same figure as in 2017. </p>
<p>The overall picture is varied, so it’s tricky to pinpoint why the figures in some places improve while others worsen. It’s not just down to the cost of housing. In some areas, such as Westminster, where housing and living costs exceed wages and benefits income, the figures are high and rising. But in other cities with similar issues, homelessness is on the decline. </p>
<p>Funding certainly plays a role: as budgets for social housing and other public services have <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/9180">been drastically reduced</a> throughout the last decade of austerity. There’s been an increase in rough sleeping and <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/london_assembly_-_hidden_homelessness_report.pdf">hidden forms of homelessness</a> – such as young people sofa-surfing with friends - over the same period. </p>
<p>But there are pockets of funding targeted at reducing rough sleeping. In June 2018, the Ministry for Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG) announced £30m of funding for <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-government-initiative-to-reduce-rough-sleeping">the Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI)</a>, as a way of supporting 82 local authorities to reduce high numbers of people sleeping rough, before the count in November 2018. </p>
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<p>While there’s been a small reduction of 2% in the official snapshot figures, it’s not really possible to say whether this is the start of positive trend in reducing street homelessness. For example, both Westminster and Brighton received targeted funding, but experienced very different outcomes. </p>
<p>In reality, the RSI funding will take time to affect the lives of people with such complex needs. It’s a welcome injection of funding for a sector that has faced relentless government cuts. But this short-term fix is unlikely to end rough sleeping any time soon. </p>
<h2>The people behind the numbers</h2>
<p>Funding is absolutely necessary to address homeless people’s range of needs – but it’s not the only factor. Getting to know the people behind the numbers in the count – understanding their stories and how they came to be sleeping on the street – can help agencies understand some of the complex and varied issues that lead to homelessness. </p>
<p>A team led by De Montfort University did this in Leicester as part of the <a href="https://www.world-habitat.org/publications/the-european-end-street-homelessness-campaign/">European End Street Homelessness campaign</a>, which has been learning lessons from across the continent and drawing on experiences from the US, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45442596">where rough sleeping</a> is a huge problem. We worked together with students at the university and a range of public sector and charity colleagues. </p>
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<a href="http://theconversation.com/homelessness-how-other-countries-can-avoid-a-us-style-crisis-106010">Homelessness: how other countries can avoid a US-style crisis</a>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/research-faculties-and-institutes/business-and-law/lgru/housing/end-street-homelessness-in-leicester.aspx">report published in November 2017</a> recorded the number of people sleeping rough on the night of the government count (31). But it also included much more detailed survey questions, which explored the experiences of each homeless person. These allowed us to learn about the cumulative issues which had led people to sleep on the street. Many had experienced health problems and trauma. </p>
<p>Hearing these stories can help councils and charities to work out what sort of housing and assistance will work in the long term, to reduce the chance of people becoming homeless again. It can also give communities, media and local authorities the means to get rid of the stigma around homelessness, better understand the causes and target resources and support to help people off the streets. </p>
<p>Our project helped to secure RSI funding for the city, prompted the creation of the new <a href="http://leicestercathedral.org/leicesters-homelessness-charter-launched-at-the-cathedral/">Leicester Homelessness Charter</a> and a longer term research partnership, to consider the benefits of a <a href="https://www.homeless.org.uk/sites/default/files/site-attachments/Housing%20First%20in%20England%20The%20Principles.pdf">“housing first” approach</a>, which provides a stable home and personalised support to help homeless people stay off the streets.</p>
<p>Getting to know the particular issues and stories that can lead to homelessness is vital to connecting homeless people to the right kind of help, and ultimately reducing or ending street homelessness. Projects such as the European End Street Homelessness Campaign provide a structured way to do that, for each local area. With the announcement of a 2% reduction in rough sleeping, it’s now more important than ever to keep learning the detail about homeless people’s experience, and acknowledge the complexity behind the headline figures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111111/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Richardson is a member of the board of Trustees at World Habitat. </span></em></p>Homelessness in the UK has been rising for a decade – short term funding may have offered respite, but it won't lead to long term solutions.Jo Richardson, Professor of Housing and Social Research, De Montfort UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1096912019-01-14T11:41:43Z2019-01-14T11:41:43ZThe 2019 government shutdown is just the latest reason why poor people can't bank on the safety net<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253579/original/file-20190114-43510-fx8i4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Unreliable policies can make poverty more stressful.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/adult-woman-sitting-look-worried-on-728818369">Rawpixel/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I conduct a lot of in-depth interviews with people like a woman I’ll call Angie as part of my work as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=w2vYJJkAAAAJ&amp;hl=en">political scientist</a> who studies poverty and public policy. When I asked the low-income mother of two, who works multiple jobs but still struggles to care for her family, about her experience with government assistance programs, she expressed dismay over benefit cuts.</p>
<p>“The people who make these rules … they don’t have any poor people in their family,” she told me. “That is why they are willing to chop so many services for the poor.” </p>
<p>People living in poverty are now bracing for that kind of chopping as a result of the partial government shutdown that began in December. By the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/government-shutdown-are-food-stamps-snap-wic-benefits-paid-2019-1">three-week mark</a>, most safety-net benefits were still being funded. But should the impasse drag on, that could change.</p>
<p>In my view, the added <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/19/16907138/government-shutdown-2018">economic hardship</a> brought on would highlight an enduring aspect of American public policy: Government benefits can be <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/privatizing-risk-without-privatizing-the-welfare-state-the-hidden-politics-of-social-policy-retrenchment-in-the-united-states/9EE821F912D000130BC9C6094C4B2686">unreliable</a>. They can be <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/dismantling-the-welfare-state/1EF58A90413CCE29F65E0E99F9138DC2">cut</a> or eliminated arbitrarily. </p>
<h2>Fragmented help</h2>
<p>As I’ve explained in a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/fragmented-democracy/9A69DF1567190EF38883D4766EBC0AAC">book published in 2018</a>, the nation’s systems for aiding Americans who have trouble making ends meet are fragmented. Different programs housed in multiple agencies serve distinct populations, with all of this happening in different ways across states and localities.</p>
<p>That means government shutdowns do not sever all assistance at once. In this instance, Congress has already passed the appropriations bills funding agencies like Health and Human Services, so <a href="https://khn.org/news/how-the-government-shutdown-affects-health-programs/">Medicaid, Medicare</a> and many other programs that agency runs are relatively safe.</p>
<p>Other federal agencies are more likely to see their funds dry up during this particular shutdown, especially the departments of agriculture and housing.</p>
<p>USDA and HUD are responsible for many programs that directly and indirectly keep low-income Americans fed and housed. The USDA’s <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap">Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program</a>, more commonly called SNAP, helps more than 19 million low-income households. HUD’s Housing Choice Vouchers, better known as <a href="https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/hcv/about/fact_sheet">Section 8</a>, help more than 2 million American families struggling to keep a roof over their heads. </p>
<p>These programs, which together cost about US<a href="https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/pd/SNAPsummary.pdf">$83 billion</a> a year, still <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/blog/npr-series-highlights-need-to-strengthen-rental-assistance">fail to meet the needs</a> of all the Americans who live in poverty. But they nonetheless play a critical role in keeping the most vulnerable Americans afloat. </p>
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<p>On top of SNAP, the USDA runs housing programs that assist hundreds of thousands of <a href="https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/multi-family-housing-rental-assistance">rural renters</a>, <a href="https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/single-family-housing-direct-home-loans">home buyers</a>, <a href="https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/farm-loan-programs/index">owners of small farms</a> and <a href="https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/farm-labor-housing-direct-loans-grants">farm workers</a>. In addition to its Section 8 vouchers, HUD funds and manages programs that help <a href="https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/mfh/progdesc/eld202">elderly people</a>, people with <a href="https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/mfh/progdesc/disab811">disabilities</a>, people with <a href="https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/comm_planning/aidshousing">HIV/AIDS</a>, and people facing <a href="https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/comm_planning/homeless/programs">homelessness</a>. </p>
<p>Some of these, such as three USDA programs that help rural people rent, repair and buy homes, <a href="https://nlihc.org/article/government-shutdown-now-third-week-impacts-housing-programs-and-tenants">are not operating</a> due to the shutdown. Others are <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/because-shutdown-more-1-000-affordable-housing-contracts-have-expired-n955971">jeopardized</a>. Yet more, including <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/usda-to-fund-snap-for-february-2019-but-millions-face-cuts-if-shutdown">SNAP, could be paused</a> in another month or two should Congress and the White House fail to agree on how to fund the entire government by then.</p>
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<h2>Constant change</h2>
<p>It’s hard for anyone to keep track of, but this patchwork of timelines is all too familiar to low-income Americans. A <a href="http://www.people-press.org/interactives/political-polarization-1994-2017/">hyperpolarized</a> political environment marked by ever <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/kentucky/articles/2018-08-30/facing-shortfall-kentucky-mulls-ending-medicaid-expansion">shifting policies</a> produces volatility and instability for those who count on the safety net during times of need.</p>
<p>In my interviews with low-income people around the country, this unreliable nature of government often comes up. While people express deep gratitude for the help they get, they also say they can’t bank on it.</p>
<p>Getting public benefits was “becoming more of a struggle,” said John, a low-income disabled man from Michigan. “They’re cutting back on a lot of benefits for people and they’re trying to make it harder and harder to where you just give up.”</p>
<p>To be sure, I do not believe that any policies should be stagnant. But I do think that they should change to better serve the needs of those they target, and that they should only be phased out when no longer needed.</p>
<p>In contrast, the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/">Trump administration’s latest proposed budget</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/12/16996832/trump-budget-2019-release-explained">hinges on cutting</a> crucial programs. In some cases it would scrap longstanding anti-poverty programs like the <a href="https://www.lsc.gov/media-center/publications/2017-lsc-numbers">Legal Services Corporation</a>, a nonprofit established by Congress in 1974 to help low-income Americans get lawyers.</p>
<p>If <a href="https://www.usnews.com/opinion/thomas-jefferson-street/articles/2018-02-14/donald-trumps-budget-doesnt-matter">history</a> is any indication, many of these proposed cuts won’t happen. Still, Trump’s budget sets the tone of federal priorities, leaving millions of low-income Americans uncertain of whether the government will continue to assist them.</p>
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<h2>Shutting down democracy</h2>
<p>When I asked Angie, who lives in Michigan, why her Medicaid benefits were cut, leaving her uninsured, she said that “it has a lot to do with politics.” I hear that refrain often.</p>
<p>Many low-income Americans know that their ability to access SNAP, Section 8 vouchers and other benefits depends on what politicians do. But that does not mean they are likely to vote for candidates who might make a difference in their lives – or anyone else for that matter.</p>
<p>Political science research has demonstrated <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/lessons-of-welfare-policy-design-political-learning-and-political-action/1BFEE6A53F8E201A9E836613AEF405AB">again</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003122410363563">again</a> and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/fragmented-democracy/9A69DF1567190EF38883D4766EBC0AAC">again</a> that negative experiences with safety-net programs can lead people to disengage from government, avoid the voting booth and shun the political sphere. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl">forthcoming academic article</a> that I co-authored with University of Missouri political scientist <a href="https://politicalscience.missouri.edu/people/haselswerdt">Jake Haselswerdt</a>, we provide statistical evidence that people are less likely to vote after public benefits get slashed or go away.</p>
<p>Likewise, many of the people I’ve interviewed told me they were convinced that they had “very little influence” and that “no one listens.” It’s hard to argue with their perspective, given how <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/blog/seniors-families-and-others-risk-losing-housing-as-shutdown-continues">vulnerable the safety net becomes</a> during government shutdowns.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109691/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamila Michener has received funding from the Russell Sage Foundation and from the Institute for Research on Poverty. </span></em></p>Medicaid and Medicare benefits appear safe for now. But SNAP food assistance and many other programs could be disrupted.Jamila Michener, Assistant Professor of Government, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1088402018-12-17T12:17:22Z2018-12-17T12:17:22ZHomelessness: why new statistics are probably underestimating the problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250664/original/file-20181214-185243-1qkkxvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/711609322?src=cgYUGvxxiAMYXuaqHoBkNg-1-50&amp;size=medium_jpg">Tana888/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It appears there was dramatic increase in homelessness in England in 2018. The latest <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statutory-homelessness-in-england-april-to-june-2018">figures</a> from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) appear to paint a bleak picture. They show a 5% rise in the number of households placed in temporary accommodation, from 78,540 in June 2017, to 82,310 in June 2018. Of these households, 61,480 were families with children.</p>
<p>But the MHCLG stressed that these are experimental statistics and should be treated with caution. Their publication coincides with new duties under the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/13/contents/enacted">Homelessness Reduction Act 2017</a> to prevent and relieve homelessness, which require local authorities to intervene earlier in cases of threatened homelessness. </p>
<p>Heather Wheeler, minister for homelessness, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-43288585/heather-wheeler-to-resign-if-rough-sleeping-gets-worse">who promised to resign</a> if rough sleeping increases on her watch said the statistics suggest the new prevention and relief duties <a href="https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/councils-take-on-homelessness-reduction-act-duties-for-58660-households-59510">are effective</a>.</p>
<p>But our ongoing research into the new law shows this is disingenuous. The MHCLG has long known that the way it is recording data on homelessness is inadequate. Local authorities have been warning officials that a new national data collection process, called the <a href="https://gss.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/H_CLIC_v1.4.1_guidance.pdf">Homeless Case Level Information Centre</a> (H-CLIC), is ineffective since it went live in April.</p>
<p>The new homelessness figures for April to June 2018 are the first aggregated reports based on this new system. Entire local authorities have failed to return data for this period. For many others their returns are incomplete or contain errors because they haven’t yet got to grips with the new system. The new statistics are likely to under-represent how many people were homeless in this period.</p>
<h2>Measuring need</h2>
<p>Measuring homelessness is hard and understanding the causes of homelessness is even more complex. So we really need good data. Good data enables housing providers and local authorities to establish whether their interventions are effective, government to monitor the effectiveness of homelessness legislation and the public to have confidence that money invested in homelessness is being spent wisely.</p>
<p>Even before the Homelessness Reduction Act was proposed, the Statistics Agency <a href="https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publication/statistics-on-homelessness-and-rough-sleeping-in-england-department-for-communities-and-local-government/">reported in 2015</a> that reporting on homelessness was no longer fit for purpose. The new H-CLIC requires local authorities to submit records on homelessness cases they deal with as they progress. As a result, the MHCLG is now collecting vastly more information than under the old system of quarterly reports, but this is taking up a lot more time of frontline workers.</p>
<p>As H-CLIC began, many local authorities chose to transfer all data recording onto the new system. This means they have no internal reports of how many people present to them as homeless, which legal duties they owe to them, and how those cases are progressing. MHCLG now generate these reports at local and national level and has only just released aggregated reports on data submitted for April to June 2018. </p>
<p>In the past, local authorities used their internal reports to plan services. Those local authorities that didn’t anticipate there would be a delay in receiving reports under the new system have struggled to identify where to spend money to relieve and prevent homelessness.</p>
<p>This problem is likely to continue unless significant investment is made in either the technology underpinning H-CLIC or in training frontline staff to complete their data returns. At the moment, even MHCLG acknowledges the data collected under the new system is incomplete and unreliable.</p>
<h2>A ‘shambles’</h2>
<p>H-CLIC has been supported by an <a href="https://gss.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/HCLIC-FAQs-v2.0-2.pdf">additional £3m investment</a> from central to local government. But this translates to slightly over £9,000 to each of the 326 local authorities in England and Wales. Local authorities have typically used the money to purchase upgrades to their existing software, but these clumsy solutions don’t mesh well with the centralised MHCLG database authorities must upload their data to. </p>
<p>This creates substantial additional problems, from confusion over what information should be recorded, to arduous hours spent rectifying submissions so MHCLG’s system will accept case reports. Managers and advisers are being forced to invest significant amounts of time simply getting to grips with the technical aspects of the system, without any training. </p>
<p>Senior managers have described the process to us as “shambolic” and “endless”. This will only get worse next year when the MHCLG starts trying to collect the names and addresses of clients. Due to the complexity of new data protection laws, the collection of this personal data about homeless applicants has been <a href="https://gss.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/HCLIC_Sept_2018.pdf">postponed until further notice</a>.</p>
<p>Local authorities do recognise the advantages the new reporting system will bring in the long term. Their concern is that the abrupt transition to the new data gathering system will make monitoring the impact of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 impossible. But far worse, the effect of this “shambles” will drastically affect local authorities’ ability to plan and commission services to help homeless people. This could affect the numbers of people able to access homelessness services in 2020 and beyond.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nell Munro is trustee of Faith, Hope and Enterprise, a supported housing provider in Derby and Derbyshire.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carla Reeson receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>Shambolic rollout of new recording system for people at risk of homelessness means statistics shouldn't be trusted.Nell Munro, Assistant Professor in Law, University of NottinghamCarla Reeson, PhD Researcher in Law, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1066022018-11-13T19:03:22Z2018-11-13T19:03:22ZHospital discharges to ‘no fixed address’ – here's a much better way<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245232/original/file-20181113-194519-q0a6ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dr Jim O&#39;Connell and therapy dog Maestro spend some time with a client at the medical respite centre in Boston.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>Why treat people and send them back to the conditions that made them sick? <strong>– <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-health-gap-9781408857991/">Michael Marmot, The Health Gap, 2015</a></strong></p>
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<p>“Homelessness is one of the most intractable and complex problems facing cities around the globe,” says my colleague Dr Jim O’Connell from the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (<a href="https://www.bhchp.org/">BHCHP</a>). It is somewhat sobering to hear that Boston is now into its third “ten-year plan” to end homelessness. Despite the success of Boston’s <a href="https://www.mhsa.net/HHG">Housing First programs</a> in housing many people who have lived on the streets for years, it has proven difficult to “turn off the homelessness tap”.</p>
<p>The reasons include the lack of affordable housing options and a systemic failure to break the cycle of people leaving the corrections system without somewhere to live. O'Connell has just spent a week in Perth as a Raine Medical Foundation Visiting Fellow at UWA. He recounts that around half the people entering Boston homeless shelters indicate that “a jail” was where they slept the previous night. </p>
<p>These are cautionary warnings for Australia, where <a href="https://aaeh.org.au/">concerted efforts to end homelessness</a> are up against an affordable housing crisis and huge <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/housing-assistance/housing-assistance-in-australia-2018/contents/housing-in-australia">public housing wait lists</a>. Alarming numbers of people are <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-can-put-a-stop-to-the-revolving-door-between-homelessness-and-imprisonment-91394">released from Australian prisons to homelessness</a> each year. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/a-community-fix-for-the-affordable-housing-crisis-102840">A community fix for the affordable housing crisis</a>
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<p>So while ending homelessness in Australia is a vital aspiration, which <a href="https://www.homelessnessaustralia.org.au/sites/homelessnessaus/files/2017-10/HA%20Position%20Paper%20-%20FINAL_0.pdf">needs to be backed by a coordinated national strategy</a>, multisectoral action and greater dedicated funding, our cities also need to be better equipped to deal with the health impacts and other consequences of homelessness until it can be eradicated.</p>
<h2>Hospital and human costs are high</h2>
<p>One of the most costly consequences of homelessness for any city is the burden on the health system. Although mental and physical health issues can contribute to homelessness, being homeless also <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2018/209/5/homeless-health-care-meeting-challenges-providing-primary-care">increases the risk of many health problems</a>. These include psychiatric illness, substance use and chronic and infectious diseases. </p>
<p>Across Australia, people who are homeless are among the most frequent presenters to emergency departments. Their rate of unplanned hospital admissions is high. The average stay is longer too. </p>
<p>All of this strains the resources of our public hospitals, as shown in our <a href="http://homelesshealthcare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Royal-Perth-Hospital-Homeless-Team-FINAL-report-June-2018.pdf">recent analysis</a> of data for homeless patients seen at Royal Perth Hospital.</p>
<p>Globally and within Australia, pressure is mounting on hospitals to shorten stays in costly hospital beds. However, post-discharge care via less costly “hospital in the home” programs is not an option for patients with “no fixed address”. </p>
<p>As a result homeless patients face either longer inpatient admissions or are discharged when too unwell for the challenges of living on the street. And that in turn results in deteriorating health and many unplanned readmissions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245204/original/file-20181113-194513-29h4l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245204/original/file-20181113-194513-29h4l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245204/original/file-20181113-194513-29h4l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=358&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245204/original/file-20181113-194513-29h4l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=358&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245204/original/file-20181113-194513-29h4l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=358&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245204/original/file-20181113-194513-29h4l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245204/original/file-20181113-194513-29h4l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245204/original/file-20181113-194513-29h4l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Life on the street is no place for a person to recover after being discharged from hospital.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of BHCHP</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Respite centres offer a solution</h2>
<p>An innovative solution to these problems is the <a href="https://www.bhchp.org/medical-respite-care">medical respite model</a> for homeless people. This originated in the United States in the mid-1980s. </p>
<p>A respite centre enables people who are homeless to recuperate after hospital in a more home-like environment. Here they can receive follow-up care, social support and be linked to community services and accommodation providers.</p>
<p>A more homely non-hospital environment is a critical ingredient, as hospitals can be traumatising for homeless people. Many of them have suffered violence, sexual abuse, neglect, incarceration or other forms of trauma, further compounded by the trauma of living on the streets. From the Boston experience, therapy dogs, social connection, recreational activities, art therapy and patient support groups are among the healing benefits that can be provided outside a hospital environment.</p>
<p>One of our reasons for bringing Jim O’Connell to Australia this month has been to draw on his experience as a founder of the first medical respite centre for homeless people in the US. It began as a 25-bed facility in Boston in 1985 and now has 124 beds. Sadly, the demand keeps growing – for every bed that becomes available, there are 20 calls from hospitals wanting a bed for homeless patients. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ri4ibdyU5Ic?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Video production: Isaac Wood.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What facilities does Australia have?</h2>
<p>The respite centre model has flourished in North America, with over 70 in cities across the US and a growing number in Canada. Australia at present has two small examples, in Melbourne and Sydney.</p>
<p>In Melbourne, <a href="https://www.svhm.org.au/health-professionals/aged-and-community-care/health-independence-program/hospital-admission-risk-program-harp/the-cottage">The Cottage</a> is literally a cottage next to St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne. It has six patient beds, with an average stay of nine days. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245201/original/file-20181113-194485-1pl3a5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245201/original/file-20181113-194485-1pl3a5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245201/original/file-20181113-194485-1pl3a5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245201/original/file-20181113-194485-1pl3a5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245201/original/file-20181113-194485-1pl3a5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245201/original/file-20181113-194485-1pl3a5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245201/original/file-20181113-194485-1pl3a5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245201/original/file-20181113-194485-1pl3a5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Cottage in Melbourne improves the well-being of people who are homeless and saves on healthcare costs, but has high demand for its six beds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Befekir Kebede, courtesy of St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/HCS-08-2018-0020">evaluation of The Cottage</a>, published just last week, shows it provides a valuable step-down alternative and period of stability for homeless people. This enables staff to build trusting relationships and increase patient capacity to manage their own health. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.svhs.org.au/our-services/list-of-services/homeless-health-service">Tierney House</a> is a 12-bed short-stay respite unit run by St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/breaking-the-hospital-homeless-cycle/8333772">Support and care is provided</a> for around $400 a day. This is far cheaper than the average Australian <a href="https://www.ihpa.gov.au/publications/national-hospital-cost-data-collection-public-hospitals-cost-report-round-20-0">hospital bed cost of $2,003 a day</a> in 2015-16.</p>
<p>Perth is seeking to establish Australia’s first 20-bed medical recovery centre for people who are homeless. It’s based on the US respite care model, but with a sharpened focus on connecting people to housing and long-term health and other support to remain housed. Linking people to a general practitioner through <a href="https://homelesshealthcare.org.au">Homeless Healthcare</a> will be a critical part of the model, as its GPs and nurses can provide primary care and follow-up in the community to avert future hospital admissions.</p>
<p>As Dr Andrew Davies, of Homeless Healthcare, and I <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2018/209/5/homeless-health-care-meeting-challenges-providing-primary-care">stressed recently in the MJA</a>, the absence of safe and secure housing lies at the core of the health disparities seen among people who are homeless. This is particularly apparent when they are discharged from hospital before they are well enough to return to the streets. </p>
<p>Just imagine trying to recover from a hospital admission without a safe place to rest and sleep, nowhere to wash, no secure storage for medications, not to mention poor access to nutritious food and difficulty maintaining hygienic wound care.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245200/original/file-20181113-194509-1y6cy2n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245200/original/file-20181113-194509-1y6cy2n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245200/original/file-20181113-194509-1y6cy2n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=539&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245200/original/file-20181113-194509-1y6cy2n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=539&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245200/original/file-20181113-194509-1y6cy2n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=539&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245200/original/file-20181113-194509-1y6cy2n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=678&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245200/original/file-20181113-194509-1y6cy2n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=678&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245200/original/file-20181113-194509-1y6cy2n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=678&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/HCS-08-2018-0020">Adapted from Homeless Healthcare evaluation report</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The need is growing</h2>
<p>Australia is facing escalating and unsustainable health care costs, exacerbated by an ageing population and the rising burden of chronic disease. A medical recovery centre presents a cost-effective solution for government given the high rates of emergency department presentations and hospital re-admissions when people remain homeless. </p>
<p><a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/183842">Published evaluations</a> of US respite centres show 24-36% reductions in emergency department presentations. Reductions in inpatient days were between 29% and 58%. The reduced health care use equates to millions of dollars in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1483848/">cost savings</a>. </p>
<p>We need to do more than lament the revolving door between hospital and the street faced by people who are homeless across Australian cities. As Andrew Davies poignantly observes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Acute hospitals treat acute medical problems. If we fail to address the underlying chronic disease and social determinants of the health of homeless people, we will continue to watch people slowly die on the streets.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The medical recovery centre model provides a critical and cost-effective circuit-breaker. By enabling “hospital in the home” care for people without a home, it reduces hospital readmissions. </p>
<p>Chronic rough sleepers are one of the most marginalised groups in our society. A medical recovery centre offers a safe period of respite where they can be connected to housing and other supports to break the cycle of homelessness. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Jim O'Connell is guest speaker at the <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/aaeh-national-health-homelessness-and-the-vulnerably-housed-roundtable-tickets-51240102526">National Health, Homelessness and the Vulnerably Housed Roundtable</a> in Brisbane tomorrow, November 15, organised by the Australian Alliance to End Homelessness.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106602/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Wood and Homeless Healthcare received a Raine Medical Foundation Visiting Fellow grant to bring Dr Jim O&#39;Connell to Perth. </span></em></p>Life on the street is no place to recover from a stay in hospital, but that's what happens to many people who are homeless. But there's a proven model to provide care that also cuts healthcare costs.Lisa Wood, Associate Professor, School of Population and Global Health, University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1060102018-11-01T14:38:55Z2018-11-01T14:38:55ZHomelessness: how other countries can avoid a US-style crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243481/original/file-20181101-83661-z34tnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/los-angeles-usa-august-28-2017-762753211?src=Awzdd9niEzHF70Qzel8rdg-1-6">Tero Vesalainen/Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Homelessness is a growing problem in the UK, where the number of people sleeping rough has <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/682001/Rough_Sleeping_Autumn_2017_Statistical_Release_-_revised.pdf">doubled since 2010</a>, yet it is dwarfed by the scale of the issue in the US. More than <a href="https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2017-AHAR-Part-1.pdf">500,000 homeless</a> were found across the US during just one night, compared to <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/682001/Rough_Sleeping_Autumn_2017_Statistical_Release_-_revised.pdf">the UK’s 2017 count</a> of 4,751. Changes in the definition of homelessness and flawed methodologies suggest that the true number for the US could be anywhere from <a href="https://www.nlchp.org/HUD-PIT-report2017">2.5 to 10.2</a> times greater. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/gas-leaks-mold-and-rats-millions-of-americans-live-in-hazardous-homes/492689/">Millions more</a> live in overcrowded or slum housing, forced to choose between <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/give-us-shelter/">the damage that poor conditions do</a> to their physical and mental health, and the street. All of the US’s housing issues – from foreclosures to evictions to poor conditions – <a href="http://bostonreview.net/patrick-sharkey-inherited-ghetto-racial-inequality">hit communities of colour the hardest</a>. </p>
<p>This is due to <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2543-city-of-segregation">a legacy of discrimination</a>, which continues to undercut any commitment to safe and decent housing for all residents, whether in the private or public sector. In my recent book, <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2543-city-of-segregation">City of Segregation</a>, I explain how the long, violent history of creating spaces for the white and privileged classes is embedded in a number of practices, which continue in US cities to this day. </p>
<h2>Exporting inequality</h2>
<p>As private developers and investors seek out <a href="https://theconversation.com/investment-in-urban-land-is-on-the-rise-we-need-to-know-who-owns-our-cities-63485">urban land in major cities</a> around the world to secure their fortunes, real estate patterns and practices developed within the US are increasingly being observed elsewhere. </p>
<p>In cities as diverse as <a href="https://libcom.org/library/staying-put-anti-gentrification-handbook-council-estates-london">London</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/suburbanising-the-centre-the-baird-governments-anti-urban-agenda-for-sydney-55754">Sydney</a> and <a href="http://base.d-p-h.info/en/fiches/dph/fiche-dph-8418.html">Durban</a>, community groups which have been working for decades to improve their neighbourhoods languish with little public or private resource. Meanwhile, developers create spaces for foreign investors and new residents, who anticipate certain protections and privileges such as greater security, high quality amenities and neighbours with similar interests and backgrounds.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243487/original/file-20181101-83629-13v0s40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243487/original/file-20181101-83629-13v0s40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=338&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243487/original/file-20181101-83629-13v0s40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=338&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243487/original/file-20181101-83629-13v0s40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=338&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243487/original/file-20181101-83629-13v0s40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=424&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243487/original/file-20181101-83629-13v0s40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=424&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243487/original/file-20181101-83629-13v0s40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=424&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fenced in.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/driveway-entrance-upscale-gated-community-housing-207795691?src=o0sYUX0GtQqY5wUsuglXRw-1-1">Shutterstock.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is a driving force behind <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2543-city-of-segregation">rising evictions and the criminalisation of homelessness</a>, alongside gated communities, <a href="https://theconversation.com/defensive-architecture-designing-the-homeless-out-of-cities-52399">hostile architecture</a>, <a href="https://archive.ica.art/bulletin/broken-windows-policing-and-institutionalised-racism">“broken windows” policing</a> with its focus on prosecuting activities such as graffiti or jaywalking and the growing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jul/24/revealed-pseudo-public-space-pops-london-investigation-map">privatisation of public spaces</a> through regeneration. </p>
<p>But there is still time for other countries to choose a different path. The UK, in particular, can build on the legacies of the post-war <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/may/01/municipal-dreams-john-boughton-review-council-housing">political consensus</a> that all residents should have access to quality housing, and its <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/apr/22/stephen-lawrence-murder-changed-legal-landscape">acknowledgement of institutional racism</a> and some history of government <a href="https://www.routledge.com/There-Aint-No-Black-in-the-Union-Jack-2nd-Edition/Gilroy-the-author/p/book/9780415289818">anti-racist campaigning</a>.</p>
<p>Both legacies <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2018/jun/05/grenfell-inquiry-survivors-opening-statements-begin-live-updates?page=with%3Ablock-5b1671e6e4b0033069064267">should be improved</a>, but a renewed commitment to a programme of housing and anti-racism are central to increasing equality, prosperity and well-being for all. Based on my research, I’ve come up with five steps which the UK and countries like it can follow, to ensure that future development reduces – rather than drives – homelessness and inequality. </p>
<h2>1. Build social housing</h2>
<p>Unlike the US, the UK acknowledges a right to a home, and within living memory provided it for a huge swathe of British society. Social housing – whether in the form of traditional council flats, cooperatives or community land trusts – provides a variety of housing types and keeps rents from rising too far beyond wages. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243490/original/file-20181101-83635-7n227u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243490/original/file-20181101-83635-7n227u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=388&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243490/original/file-20181101-83635-7n227u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=388&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243490/original/file-20181101-83635-7n227u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=388&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243490/original/file-20181101-83635-7n227u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=488&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243490/original/file-20181101-83635-7n227u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=488&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243490/original/file-20181101-83635-7n227u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=488&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Housing for all.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicohogg/2772688510/sizes/l">Nicobobinus/Flickr.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When social housing is widely available, it makes a huge difference to people who – for one reason or another, and often through no fault of their own – become homeless. With social housing to fall back on, homelessness is a temporary condition which can be safely resolved. Without it, homelessness can become a life-destroying downwards spiral. </p>
<h2>2. Preserve and expand community assets</h2>
<p>Severe segregation in the US stripped entire communities of access to quality food, jobs, education, green spaces, services, banks and loans. Poverty is endemic, and can easily tip into homelessness. While far from perfect, the UK’s post-war commitment to universal provision of services, such as education and health care, and building social housing across all neighbourhoods underpinned <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/11/slaying-five-giants-75th-anniversary-beveridge-report">a surge in upward mobility</a>. </p>
<p>This achievement should be salvaged from <a href="https://theconversation.com/thatcher-helped-people-to-buy-their-own-homes-but-the-poorest-paid-the-price-50133">the damage done</a> by Right To Buy – a policy which sold off social housing without replacing it – and austerity, which has prompted a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jun/19/thousands-of-public-buildings-and-spaces-england-sold-off-councils-private-developers">sell-off</a> of public assets and land, as well as the closure of childrens’ services, libraries and community centres. </p>
<h2>3. Decommodify housing</h2>
<p>A market <a href="https://theconversation.com/londons-extraordinary-surplus-of-empty-luxury-apartments-revealed-97947">geared towards</a> building apartment blocks for the portfolios of investors who will never live in them cannot produce the kind of housing and neighbourhoods which residents need, much less at a price they can afford. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/londons-extraordinary-surplus-of-empty-luxury-apartments-revealed-97947">London's extraordinary surplus of empty luxury apartments revealed</a>
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<p>While London has been badly affected for some time, this trend <a href="https://theconversation.com/airbnb-and-the-short-term-rental-revolution-how-english-cities-are-suffering-101720">is now spreading</a> to other areas of the UK and Europe. Local and national governments <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G17/009/56/PDF/G1700956.pdf?OpenElement">must act</a> to prevent global demand for housing as investments from driving prices beyond the reach of those who need real homes.</p>
<h2>4. Build communities, not walls</h2>
<p>Gates, bars, armed security and homeowner restrictions are all ugly traits of private housing developed within the US context of desperate inequality and racism. The UK has a long and vibrant tradition of community development, creating a supportive built environment and social infrastructure of schools, libraries and other municipal services for residents. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243492/original/file-20181101-83648-1ryv38j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243492/original/file-20181101-83648-1ryv38j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243492/original/file-20181101-83648-1ryv38j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243492/original/file-20181101-83648-1ryv38j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243492/original/file-20181101-83648-1ryv38j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243492/original/file-20181101-83648-1ryv38j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243492/original/file-20181101-83648-1ryv38j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Community assets.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/helenk/29826982796/sizes/l">Helen K/Flickr.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>This kind of development, and <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/inequality-income-social-problems-full.pdf">the social mobility and growing equality it fosters</a>, <a href="https://dkf1ato8y5dsg.cloudfront.net/uploads/5/82/safe-cities-index-eng-web.pdf">safeguards public health and safety</a> – not big walls, barbed wire and security guards. The private rented sector in the UK should be regulated to bring it more in line with Europe, where tenants prosper with security of tenure and strong regulation of rents and rent increases.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/renting-rights-what-england-can-learn-from-fairer-systems-around-the-world-103779">Renting rights: what England can learn from fairer systems around the world</a>
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<h2>5. Raise your voice</h2>
<p>Those who are bearing the brunt of our current housing crisis must be at the centre of efforts to change it. From tenants’ associations and renters’ unions, to campaign groups such as <a href="https://justice4grenfell.org/">Justice for Grenfell</a>, it’s vital to support those voices advocating fairer housing rights. </p>
<p>This also means rejecting austerity’s constant cuts to public services, funding social support for physical and mental health and ensuring that homes are safe, decent and secure, to create a safety net for those who are working to improve their communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106010/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Gibbons does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There's so much that can be done to tackle the problem, The UK's levels of homelessness are dwarfed by the US' But so much more could be done to tackle the problem.Andrea Gibbons, Researcher in Sustainable Housing and Urban Studies, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1048512018-10-21T19:17:54Z2018-10-21T19:17:54ZTurning 'big brother' surveillance into a helping hand to the homeless<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241170/original/file-20181018-41140-h4tf40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cairns has an extensive CCTV network, which as well as keeping homeless people under surveillance is sometimes used to help them.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/schoeband/1327913223/in/photolist-5vL2j6-dSoxsV-a7J3QM-7ZDGMB-32kUkz-a7LVVG-a7LVG5-a7J3LV-TPTjY">Andreina Schoeberlein/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Surveillance evokes fear of a “big brother” state watching our every move. The proliferation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in our cities and the emergence of big data have only deepened this fear. Marginalised groups such as people sleeping rough feel the impact most acutely, as their lack of shelter exposes them to constant surveillance. </p>
<p>Our <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0042098018789057">recent research</a> investigated the role of surveillance in coordinating responses to <a href="https://www.qcoss.org.au/sites/default/files/H4G_Cairns_analysis.pdf">homelessness in Cairns</a>. Homelessness occurs here at twice the national rate. </p>
<p>For rough sleepers, being surveilled can result in unwanted questioning by police, being moved on, or even being arrested. We found, however, that surveillance was also used to coordinate genuinely supportive responses by local social services.</p>
<p><a href="https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/surveillance-and-society/article/view/3425">Researchers have linked</a> surveillance of the homeless to efforts by public and other agencies to ensure city centres are attractive spaces for consumers, tourists and private investors. We found surveillance in Cairns is largely directed at reducing the impact of homelessness on the city’s image. This can result in people who are homeless being excluded from safe and familiar areas where they have ready access to support.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/anti.12001">other researchers point out</a> that responses to homelessness are diverse and multifaceted. Genuine attempts to help the homeless often exist alongside exclusionary practices. Despite this, little research has been done on how surveillance practices may interface with these more supportive initiatives. </p>
<p>We argue that the exclusionary effects of surveillance on the homeless are not a <em>fait accompli</em>. It is important to challenge these negative effects and to harness the potential for surveillance to contribute to social justice. </p>
<h2>A tool to manage ‘antisocial behaviour’</h2>
<p>Driven by concerns about the fragility of Cairns’ tourism-dependent economy, surveillance is indeed used to manage and clear public spaces of people seen as disrupting the city’s image as safe and inviting. People who are homeless are disproportionately surveilled. </p>
<p>Public debate on homelessness in Cairns often centres on “antisocial behaviour” by so-called “itinerant” Indigenous people from remote communities who sleep rough in the city. Local media, politicians and business owners <a href="http://www.cairnspost.com.au/business/call-to-shift-cairns-charity-food-van-because-of-appalling-drunks/news-story/c5e28fadbb8b721920ccd0260c0b78b8">publicly lament</a> the impact on local commerce and efforts to promote Cairns as a welcoming place for visitors. </p>
<p>Acting on these concerns, local police, council and social service personnel work together to <a href="http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/cairns-police-itinerant-operation-continues-to-kick-goals/news-story/a2b9976fba96b77dc75c2411b04f01a1">manage the behaviour</a> of people sleeping rough. They do this either through enforcement – move-ons, seizing alcohol, arrest, and so one – or through efforts to remove the homeless from public view, such as taking them to the police watch house or local sobering-up facility. </p>
<p>Surveillance plays a key role in coordinating these activities. Information on the location and behaviour of homeless people is gleaned from <a href="https://www.cairns.qld.gov.au/community-environment/community-services/safety/cctv">council-operated CCTV cameras</a> and foot patrols and passed on to police and other agencies. </p>
<h2>Help with access to services and resources</h2>
<p>Yet homelessness in Cairns is not only seen as a problem of antisocial behaviour. Community activists and social services <a href="https://www.qcoss.org.au/sites/default/files/20161803_ELC%20Cairns%20site%20analysis.pdf">highlight the social and economic forces driving homelessness</a>. These range from unaffordable housing and barriers to accessing mainstream health and welfare services, to racism and the ongoing legacy of colonisation. </p>
<p>Indeed, even <a href="https://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/cairns-councillor-calls-for-holistic-response-to-itinerant-issue/news-story/808a1cb1e63f3296cb6d963c000e0be8">local politicians</a> and council staff acknowledge that responses that move people on do not resolve the issues underlying their homelessness, which call for different approaches. </p>
<p>Reflecting these alternative views, Cairns has some important programs that help people overcome the practical, institutional and socio-economic barriers to exiting homelessness. For instance, the Cairns <a href="https://www.missionaustralia.com.au/servicedirectory/191-housing-homelessness/going-places-street-to-home-homeless-program">Street to Home</a> program helps rough sleepers get into permanent housing. It also provides them with health care and (re)connects them to mainstream health and welfare institutions.</p>
<p>Importantly, these initiatives are supported by the same surveillance practices that coordinate the more disciplinary and exclusionary responses. </p>
<p>CCTV camera operators provide the location of rough sleepers to outreach workers seeking to engage new clients and support existing ones. The council also uses its surveillance capacities to help service providers locate rough sleepers who have no fixed address and often no phone in urgent situations, such as when they have a limited time to accept a social housing offer or are overdue for psychiatric medications. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241179/original/file-20181018-41147-kb4r44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241179/original/file-20181018-41147-kb4r44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241179/original/file-20181018-41147-kb4r44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=401&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241179/original/file-20181018-41147-kb4r44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=401&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241179/original/file-20181018-41147-kb4r44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=401&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241179/original/file-20181018-41147-kb4r44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241179/original/file-20181018-41147-kb4r44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241179/original/file-20181018-41147-kb4r44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Surveillance is typically used to monitor ‘antisocial’ behaviour in public places but could just as easily be used to identify people in need of help.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cctv-security-room-1047388429?src=fGFdv2-lM7CohNJQnywhhQ-1-17">tsyklon/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Using surveillance for progressive ends</h2>
<p>Our research shows that, as well as contributing to the policing and displacement of homelessness, surveillance can help overcome barriers that people face to accessing the resources they need to end their homelessness. This suggests that while surveillance comes with inherent dangers, such as the exclusion of marginalised groups, these are not necessary or essential functions. </p>
<p>Australian cities have invested extensive public resources in surveillance infrastructure. Greater effort should be made to harness these public assets to achieve positive social outcomes, such as enabling people who are homeless to find housing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Clarke received funding from the Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works for the research presented in this article. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameron Parsell receives funding from The Australian Research Council</span></em></p>Surveillance often results in people who are homeless being the target of enforcement measures. But a new study in Cairns shows surveillance can also be used to achieve more positive social outcomes.Andrew Clarke, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Social Science, The University of QueenslandCameron Parsell, Associate Professor, School of Social Science, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1037632018-10-02T01:58:12Z2018-10-02T01:58:12ZSpirals and circles, snakes and ladders. Why women's super is complex<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238621/original/file-20181001-191184-mi2kux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women asked to draw their careers draw circles, zig zags and snakes and ladders. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week’s <a href="https://www.un.org/en/events/olderpersonsday/">International Day of Older Persons</a> reminds us Australia has made an international commitment to work towards the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/CONF.197/9">eradication of poverty in old age</a>, and that at least one side of politics, Labor, has developed a suite of policies it says will help.</p>
<p>The retirement savings of single women are <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/899-Best-way-to-close-gender-gap-retirement-incomes.pdf">well below</a> those of single men, and homelessness among older women is <a href="https://www.mercyfoundation.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Retiring-into-Poverty-National-Plan-for-Change-Increasing-Housing-Security-for-Older-Women-23-August-2018.pdf">climbing</a>. </p>
<p>Labor’s policies are <a href="http://www.billshorten.com.au/_labor_s_plan_to_improve_women_s_super_security_wednesday_19_september_2018">built around superannuation</a>. It has promised to remove the A$450 per month wage threshold at which employers make compulsory contributions meaning they will make them for all workers, and to itself make contributions on behalf of workers during paid parental leave.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/super-if-labor-really-wanted-to-help-women-in-retirement-it-would-do-something-else-103603">Super. If Labor really wanted to help women in retirement, it would do something else</a>
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<p>Questions have been asked about whether these moves would <a href="https://theconversation.com/super-if-labor-really-wanted-to-help-women-in-retirement-it-would-do-something-else-103603">do much at all to lift superannuation balances</a>. </p>
<p>Questions have also been asked about whether, even if they did boost superannuation balances, that would be the best way to help <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-superannuation-myth-why-its-a-mistake-to-increase-contributions-to-12-of-earnings-66209">the women most in need in old age</a>. </p>
<h2>Women’s lives aren’t linear</h2>
<p>Unpaid work, part-time and interrupted work, and the gender pay gap are only some of the reasons women are poor in retirement. A lot of the time the reasons are far more complex.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://www.australiansuper.com/future-face-of-poverty">I asked women</a> over 40 to draw their careers on pieces of paper, they drew circles, zig zags and spirals, what one called called: “ups and downs, and rounds and rounds, and a bit, sort of, snakes and ladders”. </p>
<p>The drawings contrasted with the linear, continual and upward (albeit interrupted) financial trajectory usually assumed by financial planners.</p>
<p>Sexist workplaces and ageism have a lot to do with it. </p>
<p>I and my colleagues heard accounts of harassment that resulted in women being denied promotion despite being good candidates and leaving lucrative jobs or re-starting their careers in lower-paid, less hostile environments. </p>
<p>Domestic norms such as the “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2014/08/06/the-second-shift-at-25-q-a-with-arlie-hochschild/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.14c6730fa739">second shift</a>” (the work undertaken by women at home in addition to their paid jobs) and the “<a href="https://english.emmaclit.com/2017/05/20/you-shouldve-asked/">mental load</a>” (the job usually assigned to women of being aware of what needs to be done to keep the household running) eat away at what’s possible.</p>
<h2>And choice isn’t all it is talked up to be</h2>
<p>Business legends Sheryl Sandberg (chief operating officer of Facebook) and Marissa Mayer (until recently president and chief executive officer of Yahoo!) talk about the battle for economic security as a battle for the right to make choices, or as Sandberg puts it, to “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/sheryl/posts/10156819553860177">lean in</a>”.</p>
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<p>But inflexible work structures, hard to get child-care, expensive childcare, and enduring social norms make it hard to exercise choice.</p>
<p>Taken too far, the idea that women are free to make choices can lead to unhelpful suggestions that they should bear <a href="https://www.3aw.com.au/debate-rages-over-labors-plan-to-close-superannuation-gap-between-men-and-women/">the financial consequences of having children</a> – a suggestion rarely made about men. </p>
<p>Superannuation is sold as being about choice. It is built around individual accounts, with a choice of fund.</p>
<p>But women’s superannuation balances are also determined by relationships and cultural expectations, among them gender inequality in <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/4430.0Main%20Features402015?opendocument&amp;tabname=Summary&amp;prodno=4430.0&amp;issue=2015&amp;num=&amp;view=">family care for older or disabled family members</a> and the division of household labour.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/the-superannuation-myth-why-its-a-mistake-to-increase-contributions-to-12-of-earnings-66209">The superannuation myth: why it's a mistake to increase contributions to 12% of earnings</a>
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<p>To present different outcomes as the results of choices undermines the pervasive and real cultural scripts that co-opt women into particular roles.</p>
<p>Attempts to change those roles, by, for example, replacing maternity leave with paternity leave, can carry long-term financial penalties for men as well, as shown in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13524-013-0233-1">research</a> from other countries. </p>
<h2>The real roots of poverty are deeper</h2>
<p>Women certainly aren’t helpless victims. Many I spoke to knew they had traded off financial security in their old age for other aspirations or needs. </p>
<p>But “choice” and financial literacy won’t be nearly enough to get women who lack financial security back on track.</p>
<p>If we want women to be secure in retirement, we will have to examine the reasons why their lives zig-zag and spiral and resemble games of snakes and ladders. We will need to examine the environment in which their choices take place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103763/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathleen Riach receives funding from Australian Super. </span></em></p>It's not just low pay and interrupted work that makes women poor in retirement.Kathleen Riach, Associate Professor in Management, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1033112018-09-19T10:42:02Z2018-09-19T10:42:02ZOne big problem with how Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos are spending a small share of their fortune<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236744/original/file-20180917-158237-toh54i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos are becoming bigger donors.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Bezos-Political-Contribution/a79c6af9fbf9492d9d87790708b522d6/23/0">Invision and AP/Evan Agostini</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie Bezos, recently announced a <a href="http://fortune.com/2018/09/13/bezos-day-one-fund/">plan to spend US$2 billion</a> of their $164 billion fortune on homeless shelters and preschools.</p>
<p>Since Jeff Bezos has <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2018/jeff-bezos-riches-philanthropy/">taken flack</a> for giving away far less of his money than some other billionaires, such as <a href="https://givingpledge.org/">Bill Gates</a>, the announcement may look like a sign that this tech titan is becoming more generous. The announcement also responds to <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2018/jeff-bezos-focus-space-spending-sparks-questions-philanthropy/">criticism</a> of the $1 billion per year that Bezos already spends on Blue Origin, his space travel experiment.</p>
<p>But as a political theorist who studies the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dR2idGYAAAAJ&amp;hl=en">ethics of philanthropy</a>, I think Bezos’s charitable turn raises grave concerns about the pervasive power of business moguls.</p>
<h2>Disturbing trend</h2>
<p>The Bezos family’s philanthropy is following an unsettling pattern in terms of its timing. <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/business/amazon-caught-in-political-cross-fire-as-market-value-nears-1-trillion">Amazon’s market value had recently topped $1 trillion</a>, raising more questions than ever around Amazon’s overwhelming size and power.</p>
<p>This wasn’t the first time that Bezos effectively redirected attention from Amazon’s immense clout with a big announcement about philanthropy. When news broke in 2017 that <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-dives-into-groceries-with-whole-foods-five-questions-answered-79638">Amazon was acquiring Whole Foods</a>, raising new concerns about the company’s retail domination, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-jeff-bezos-gets-wrong-and-right-with-his-populist-philanthropy-79740">Bezos made a dramatic public appeal</a> through Twitter for advice on how to focus his giving.</p>
<p>The timing may have been coincidental both times, but the suspicion that philanthropy distracts the public from questionable conduct or economic injustice is a familiar worry. Since the days of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3111897">robber barons</a> like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, social critics have charged that philanthropy is <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history_lesson/2006/11/looking_the_carnegie_gift_horse_in_the_mouth.html">a wolf in sheep’s clothing</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://socialistreview.org.uk/402/philanthropy-capitalist-art-deception">This cynical view holds</a> that magnificent acts of generosity are nothing more than cunning attempts to consolidate power. Like dictators who use “<a href="https://people.howstuffworks.com/bread-circuses.htm">bread and circuses</a>” to pacify the masses, the super-rich give away chunks of their fortunes to shield themselves from public scrutiny and defuse calls for <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-americans-finally-start-fighting-back-against-tax-cuts-for-the-rich-89427">eliminating tax breaks</a> or raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236743/original/file-20180917-158237-1cltz3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236743/original/file-20180917-158237-1cltz3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236743/original/file-20180917-158237-1cltz3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236743/original/file-20180917-158237-1cltz3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236743/original/file-20180917-158237-1cltz3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236743/original/file-20180917-158237-1cltz3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236743/original/file-20180917-158237-1cltz3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236743/original/file-20180917-158237-1cltz3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Demonstrators protested against Amazon and Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, shortly before he announced plans to make $2 billion in charitable donations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Jeff-Bezos-Charitable-Fund/d54d22591f5746179c34dbc056207b58/2/0">AP Photo/Cliff Owen</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Good intentions are not enough</h2>
<p>Today, political theorists who study philanthropy – like <a href="https://polisci.osu.edu/people/saunders-hastings.1">Emma Saunders-Hastings</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=g4wULUsAAAAJ&amp;hl=en">Rob Reich</a> – tend to think the problem is more complicated. They accept that many philanthropists are sincere in their desire to help others, and the solutions donors develop are sometimes remarkably innovative.</p>
<p>But they also contend that noble intentions and strategic thinking aren’t enough to make philanthropy legitimate. And <a href="https://www.academia.edu/37041651/The_Effective_Altruists_Political_Problem">my own research reaches</a> a similar verdict.</p>
<p>That’s because massive donations can perpetuate inequality and threaten democracy in several ways.</p>
<p>Dramatic acts of charity by the ultra-wealthy may reduce pressure on governments to tackle poverty and inequality comprehensively. Depending on private benefactors for access to basic necessities can reinforce social hierarchies. And when the elite spend their own money on essential public services like housing the homeless and education for low-income children, <a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/philanthropy_and_the_growth_of_charter_schools">it lets the rich mold social policy</a> to their own preferences or even whims. </p>
<p>In other words, even if Bezos has great ideas, no one elected him or hired him to house the homeless and educate kids before they enter kindergarten. Great wealth is not a qualification for all jobs.</p>
<h2>Tax privilege</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-new-estate-tax-rules-could-reduce-charitable-giving-by-billions-94879">tax deductibility</a> of the donations made by the richest Americans can exacerbate these concerns because it effectively subsidizes their giving. Some scholars argue that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9760.2011.00414.x">the point of tax incentives</a> is to encourage donations for things the government can’t or shouldn’t support directly – like maintaining a church property.</p>
<p>Observers, including MarketWatch reporter <a href="https://twitter.com/kari_paul/status/1040290871676203009">Kari Paul</a> and Guardian columnist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/14/jeff-bezos-low-income-people-pay-amazon-workers-better">Marina Hyde</a>, have noted that if people like Bezos and the businesses they lead were to stop fighting for low tax rates, democratically elected officials would have more money to spend tackling big problems like homelessness and other urgent priorities.</p>
<p>By making tax-deductible donations, they argue, Bezos is effectively diverting tax dollars to fuel his private judgments about public policy.</p>
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<h2>Questions about accountability and generosity</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.academia.edu/37431699/Of_Sovereignty_and_Saints_When_Is_the_Private_Provision_of_Public_Goods_Illegitimate">My research indicates</a> that using tax deductions to supply essential public services, such as education and housing assistance, may be a misuse of this privilege because it has the potential to <a href="https://edsource.org/2018/las-choice-in-charter-wars-board-members-say-they-will-seek-bridge-builder-as-next-schools-chief/592802">undermine democratic control</a>.</p>
<p>Members of the public have a vital interest in being able to oversee the provision of goods and services that support their most basic needs. This kind of accountability is possible only when these needs are served by democratic governments, not rich benefactors operating in their place.</p>
<p>And Bezos’s behavior as a businessman has raised other questions about his generosity and respect for democracy. When Amazon’s hometown of Seattle proposed to tackle runaway housing costs with a tax on the city’s largest employers, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/06/how-amazon-helped-kill-a-seattle-tax-on-business/562736/">Amazon resisted</a>. The city backed off after the company threatened to scale down its Seattle operations if the bill passed.</p>
<p>It may seem odd that someone who opposed a tax intended to help cover housing costs for his low-income neighbors would want to spend part of his fortune on housing. But to me it makes sense, because in my view, Jeff Bezos’s beef isn’t with his duties to help the least fortunate, but with the limits on economic power that democracy requires.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103311/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ted Lechterman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The US$2 billion that the Amazon founder and his wife are donating to help the homeless and educate young kids may appear selfless. But this money may also soften calls to raise taxes on the rich.Ted Lechterman, Postdoctoral Fellow, Goethe University Frankfurt am MainLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1032142018-09-14T10:35:23Z2018-09-14T10:35:23ZCan Jeff Bezos help the homeless? 4 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236311/original/file-20180913-177959-1y8ucjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A homeless man in Times Square.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Julie Jacobson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tonight, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42248999">some 554,000 people in the U.S.</a> will be homeless.</p>
<p>Many of them live on the West Coast, where Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is launching <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-13/amazon-s-bezos-launches-2-billion-fund-to-help-the-homeless">a new fund</a> that plans to fight the problem. Part of the US$2 billion donated by Bezos will be spent “to provide shelter and hunger support to address the immediate needs of young families.”</p>
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<p>With such an enormous challenge, where would it make sense to start? We looked into our archives for stories on what it would take to eradicate homelessness in the U.S. today.</p>
<h2>1. How the homeless population is changing</h2>
<p>“The common perception of homelessness is that it is a problem that afflicts only those with mental health and substance use problems,” writes <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/margot-kushel-204835">Margot Kushel</a>, a professor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco. But a diverse array of Americans are affected. </p>
<p>In fact, the U.S. homeless population is getting <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-homeless-population-is-changing-its-older-and-sicker-50632">older and sicker</a>. Today, half is over the age of 50. Many of these older homeless adults are the victims of circumstance. “Their lives became derailed by job loss, illness, a new disability, the death of a loved one or an interaction with the criminal justice system,” writes Kushel.</p>
<h2>2. Homeless high school students</h2>
<p>Another group that struggles with homelessness: <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hidden-homelessness-among-americas-high-school-students-88925">American teens</a>. One in 30 high school students in the U.S. have experienced homelessness in the past year. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/stacey-havlik-429037">Research from Stacey Havlik at Villanova University shows</a> “that school counselors often lack knowledge about students who are homeless, and have limited training to support their needs.” These students may need not only basic support like food and clothing, but extra attention to their mental health and planning for the future.</p>
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<h2>3. Better places to stay</h2>
<p>About a quarter of homeless Americans <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-there-are-so-many-unsheltered-homeless-people-on-the-west-coast-96767">are unsheltered</a>. But even when there are shelters, people may choose not to go to them. Many are run-down and dirty, offer little privacy or feel unsafe. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jill-pable-497808">Jill Pable at Florida State University</a> suggests <a href="https://theconversation.com/shelter-design-can-help-people-recover-from-homelessness-98374">rethinking shelter design</a>. Her team upgraded a local shelter with new features, like better lighting, privacy curtains and room to store possessions. “This small, only partially controlled study is not the final word in shelter design,” she writes, but the feedback from families who tried the new space was very positive.</p>
<h2>4. Integrating homeless people into their communities</h2>
<p>Another team in Connecticut helps people with mental illness and criminal histories, many of whom have experienced homelessness, by teaching them about citizenship. The Citizens Project in New Haven is <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-just-a-place-to-live-from-homelessness-to-citizenship-97170">an intervention program that teaches people how to participate in their community</a>, with classes on topics like conflict resolution and public speaking. Afterwards, participants report better quality of life, less substance abuse and fewer criminal charges.</p>
<p>“The people we worked with needed to see themselves – and be seen as – full members of their neighborhoods and communities,” write program creators <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-rowe-172149">Michael Rowe of Yale University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/charles-barber-486026">Charles Barber of Wesleyan University</a>. “They needed, in other words, to be citizens.”</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103214/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
With such an enormous challenge, where would it make sense to start? We looked into our archives for stories on what it would take to eradicate homelessness in the US today.Aviva Rutkin, Big Data + Applied Mathematics EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1021182018-09-03T13:36:19Z2018-09-03T13:36:19Z'No DSS': how private landlords and letting agents exclude tenants on benefits<p>Private tenants who receive housing benefit are being widely discriminated against by private landlords and letting agents, according to a recent undercover <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/22/undercover-check-finds-discrimination-against-tenants-on-benefits">investigation</a> led by Shelter with the National Housing Federation. While many landlords operate a blanket ban on housing benefit claimants – or what many still refer to by the old moniker “DSS”, referring to the old Department of Social Services – others engage in more informal and subjective decision-making processes.</p>
<p>This discrimination is particularly concerning given the growth of the private rented sector, restricted access to social rented housing <a href="http://housingevidence.ac.uk/publications/scoping-study-the-impact-of-welfare-reforms-on-housing-associations/">following welfare reforms</a> and the centrality of the private rented sector within <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/733421/Rough-Sleeping-Strategy_WEB.pdf">strategies</a> to tackle homelessness.</p>
<p>In late 2017, the Department for Work and Pensions <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/659423/dwp-quarterly-benefit-stats-summary-november-2017.pdf">reported</a> that of the 4.4m people receiving housing benefit to help fully or partially pay their rent, around 1.3m people live in the private rented sector. Research has shown that benefit caps and frozen levels of Local Housing Allowance, which helps private renters with housing costs, has directly contributed to homelessness through <a href="https://www.crisis.org.uk/media/238700/homelessness_monitor_england_2018.pdf">loss of private rental tenancies</a>. Tenants hit by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/29/low-income-tenants-face-heat-eat-or-pay-rent-choices-study">the harshest impacts of welfare reform</a> are increasingly faced with the choice between paying for food, utility bills, or rent. As support for housing costs such as Local Housing Allowance is transferred to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-its-like-to-transition-on-to-universal-credit-85190">controversial Universal Credit (UC) system</a>, tenants face further financial challenges. </p>
<p>In the northern English city of Leeds, the difference between the cost of rented housing and the level of housing benefit is less than in other parts of the country, such as Manchester, Birmingham and London, where housing has become unaffordable to a widening proportion of renters. Despite this, my recently completed but as yet unpublished PhD research in Leeds found that people receiving housing benefit struggled to meet housing costs and were viewed as a significant risk to private rented sector landlords and letting agents. </p>
<h2>Excluded by stigma</h2>
<p>The landlords and letting agents I interviewed shared negative beliefs about benefit claimants, though some claimed to resist that stigma by operating more lenient lettings processes. Yet even in Leeds, an area where demand for housing is relatively low compared to other parts of the country, landlords and letting agents emphasised their freedom to “pick and choose” based on judgements about behaviours and character.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234429/original/file-20180831-195316-1ityj4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234429/original/file-20180831-195316-1ityj4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234429/original/file-20180831-195316-1ityj4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234429/original/file-20180831-195316-1ityj4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234429/original/file-20180831-195316-1ityj4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234429/original/file-20180831-195316-1ityj4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234429/original/file-20180831-195316-1ityj4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Screening by private andlords and letting agents is commonplace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/1098538682?src=e30jlDZH3bI5mMDR1qiNSQ-1-42&amp;size=medium_jpg">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Their perceptions about problematic or chaotic lifestyles were particularly strong when they described people referred from the council through homelessness prevention interventions such as private rental access schemes. Several landlords had refused to accept tenants through these routes. Even for general applicants, one landlord described the value judgements that impacted her decisions to deny properties to applicants:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We just get a feel for the person really. If they feel a little dim or … it sounds a bit harsh but … or if they seem a bit rough.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Pre-tenancy screening through social media, or credit and previous landlord checks forms an integral part of decision making by most landlords and letting agents. However, there was an overall acceptance that arrears were common and were expected among people receiving benefits. The willingness of landlords to accept this risk depended largely on the availability of other, less risky applicants.</p>
<p>Yet there were also more complex factors at play in the selection of tenants, especially when letting within shared accommodation. The landlords and letting agents I interviewed described denying tenancies to people in order to mitigate potential gender or racially-aggravated violence. They also described separating people who were known to be using substances from those recovering from substance abuse, highlighting what they considered to be the unrecognised social responsibilities of private landlords. </p>
<p>Some landlords saw the lack of information available to them about tenants as a safeguarding risk, which prevented them from acting as responsible landlords. </p>
<h2>Excluded by design</h2>
<p>The private landlords and letting agents I spoke to shared particular frustration with the local administration of housing benefit under the previous system – which is still in place for people who have not yet transferred to Universal Credit. A letting agent who managed a large number of private lets for people receiving housing benefit described her experience of administration errors, which she said led to “a lot of evictions”.</p>
<p>Reports of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-its-like-to-transition-on-to-universal-credit-85190">mounting arrears</a> caused by the roll out of Universal Credit was an additional concern for some landlords. Another letting agent expressed her view of the future of housing benefit lets within the private sector:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m hoping that we’ll still be able to do DSS tenants, even if it’s at a level where I have to rent them out at market value. But, I think at that point the landlords will think well, I’ll go to an employed person where I can get a (deposit).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meanwhile, other in-work households who receive income support, working tax credits and child tax credit are also set to transition to UC from the summer of 2019. This will be a total of around 3m <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-and-working-tax-credits-statistics-finalised-annual-awards-supplement-on-payments-2016-to-2017">additional</a> households who may also be subject to discriminatory practices within the private rental sector. </p>
<p>At the same time, social rented housing provision has become increasingly difficult to access. My own research and others have found that <a href="https://www.crisis.org.uk/media/237833/moving_on_2017.pdf">social landlords</a> are also exercising discrimination against people with significant arrears which may be caused by welfare reforms, as well as more complex social support needs. If private and social tenancies have become dependent on financial and other subjective markers of suitability, the government must address the ways that its own policies have contributed to the lack of housing options available to growing parts of the population.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102118/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Bimpson received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council for her PhD: Governing homelessness: A case study of local welfare state transformation. </span></em></p>Administrative errors and negative stereotypes lead landlords to discriminate against people on housing benefit.Emma Bimpson, Research Associate, UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/974152018-09-03T13:24:11Z2018-09-03T13:24:11ZEveryone deserves a right to housing – and that means a right to live alone<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234636/original/file-20180903-41720-xde6fg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;rect=35%2C28%2C4737%2C3148&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A house of one&#39;s own. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sexy-girl-reading-book-alone-home-431456875?src=cIbsH1IGLIQEnhWlFJ3AOw-1-34">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The worst effects of the UK’s housing crisis include rising levels of homelessness, and growing numbers of people being housed in unsafe or overcrowded conditions. <a href="https://www.crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/about-homelessness/">According to the charity Crisis</a>, 59,890 households were accepted as homeless in England in 2017. And <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/675942/2016-17_EHS_Headline_Report.pdf">according to recent statistics</a>, 27% of privately rented homes and 13% of homes in the social housing sector are not classed as “decent”. </p>
<p>In response to this crisis, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/mar/01/right-to-housing-uk-law-homelessness">some have suggested</a> that the UK should follow countries such as <a href="http://www.housingrightswatch.org/country/netherlands">the Netherlands</a> and <a href="https://www.sahrc.org.za/home/21/files/Fact%20Sheet%20on%20the%20right%20to%20adequate%20housing.pdf">South Africa</a>, by enshrining a person’s right to housing in law. But if the UK were to adopt a right to housing, what should this right look like? </p>
<p>In <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0032321718769009">a recent article</a> for Political Studies, I made the case that a right to housing should be understood as a right to have at least a three-year secure tenancy over a house or flat of a decent size and decent quality. More controversially, that a right to housing is a right to live alone.</p>
<p>For the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/sep/25/flatsharing-40s-housing-crisis-lack-homes-renting-london">growing numbers of people</a> who have to live in a house or flat share because they cannot afford to live alone, their right to housing is being violated.</p>
<h2>A right to live alone</h2>
<p>We all need somewhere we can relax, sleep, wash and prepare food; it protects our mental and physical health, and gives us the means to lead productive lives. That’s why it’s so important that housing should not be cramped, damp, cold or unsanitary. </p>
<p>It’s also clear how having a secure, longer-term tenancy can give people a measure of stability, which allows them to live their lives without the stress and disruption of constant moves. A minimum term of three years can provide this stability: this term is already in place in France and has <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/longer-tenancy-plans-to-give-renters-more-security">recently been proposed</a> by the UK government. </p>
<p>Yet, in a nation with a shortage of affordable housing, it’s fair to ask why people should have the right to live alone. I argue that this right protects an important basic freedom: our freedom of intimate association. This is the freedom to choose when we are, and when we are not, in close or intimate relationships with other people. </p>
<p>This freedom is undermined when we stop people from having close or intimate relationships with those that they wish to – for example, by making such relationships illegal – and when we force people to have close or intimate relationships with those they do not wish to. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234637/original/file-20180903-41726-1c1v4l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234637/original/file-20180903-41726-1c1v4l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234637/original/file-20180903-41726-1c1v4l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234637/original/file-20180903-41726-1c1v4l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234637/original/file-20180903-41726-1c1v4l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234637/original/file-20180903-41726-1c1v4l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234637/original/file-20180903-41726-1c1v4l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Oversharing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/upset-woman-showing-dirty-dishes-friend-387513406?src=-q5-v8KpX1Z9AtHIWiqBsw-1-0">Shutterstock.</a></span>
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<p>It’s particularly important to protect this freedom, because our close and intimate relationships can have a profound effect on who we are, and on our fundamental beliefs and commitments. But I argue that for those who are forced to share housing, because they cannot afford to live alone, this freedom is not being adequately protected. </p>
<h2>An intimate relationship</h2>
<p>Living with another person is a certain kind of intimate relationship: people who live together, especially over longer periods of time, will often know many intimate details about each others’ lives. Since the home is the place where we can relax and be ourselves, the people we live with also get access to our private life. </p>
<p>A right to housing, then, should be understood not just as a right to secure tenancy of decent quality housing – it should also be understood as a right to live alone. Only if people can live alone, can we protect people’s ability to choose their intimate relationships, and protect their freedom of intimate association. </p>
<p>For the UK, this means there is a long way to go before peoples’ right to housing is properly protected.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97415/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>During her doctoral research, Katy Wells received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>The right to housing is enshrined in law in the Netherlands and South Africa – so what would it look like in the UK?Katy Wells, Assistant Professor in Political Theory, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1009852018-08-16T12:55:21Z2018-08-16T12:55:21ZHomelessness: what people get wrong about it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232310/original/file-20180816-2921-pbvwbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/homeless-man-sleeping-rough-social-issues-149514785?src=PVpaCEPDvIZrGDHf_Yp6cQ-1-8">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK is experiencing rising levels of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-in-england-autumn-2017">rough sleeping</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statutory-homelessness-and-homelessness-prevention-and-relief-england-january-to-march-2018">homelessness</a>. It’s not the only nation where this is happening – there are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/mar/14/homelessness-in-australia-up-14-in-five-years-abs-says">clear parallels</a> in Australia, too. As a UK academic researching homelessness, who recently attended Australia’s <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/events/homelessness2018">National Homelessness Conference</a> in Melbourne, I know that both nations must be keen to find an effective response to this extreme form of poverty and exclusion. But answers will remain elusive, until everyone can understand its causes. </p>
<p>Policies to end homelessness often focus on ending rough sleeping – just like the UK government’s recent <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-rough-sleeping-strategy">rough sleeping strategy</a>. But the thing about people sleeping rough is that they can look, feel and sound different to “ordinary” citizens. And these perceived differences can be seized on to justify certain approaches to the problem – from punitive to progressive. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://works.bepress.com/dennis_culhane/3/">US research</a>, investigating how homeless people use services over time, has shown that problems such as mental illness, addiction and poor health are confined to <a href="http://www.evidenceonhomelessness.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/evidence-page-chronic-homelessness-April-2018.pdf">a minority</a> of people, who experience long term and repeated homelessness. Similar findings have been reported in <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/2202865/Scutella_et_al_Journeys_Home_Research_Report_W6.pdf">Australia</a> and <a href="https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/chain-reports">the UK</a>. </p>
<p>For instance, in England, in the autumn of 2017, there were <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-in-england-autumn-2017">4,751 people sleeping rough</a>, compared with <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/721296/Temporary_accommodation.xlsx">121,340 children</a> in temporary accommodation, who are legally defined as homeless. And this does not even account for those who are sofa surfing; who lack their own front door, private space, physical security or any legal right to anything that could really be called a home. These people are difficult to count, but studies of the experience of homeless people show us they are <a href="https://www4.shu.ac.uk/research/cresr/sites/shu.ac.uk/files/hidden-homelessness-life-margins_0.pdf">there</a>.</p>
<p>So, rough sleeping is a relatively unusual form of homelessness in the UK, and <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/2202865/Scutella_et_al_Journeys_Home_Research_Report_W6.pdf">in Australia</a>. </p>
<h2>Not a choice</h2>
<p>As homelessness worsens, it’s time to challenge the narrow views of the issue, which are driving the current social and political responses. Homelessness is not just rough sleeping and it is not just experienced by people with complex needs such as mental illness and addiction. </p>
<p>All too often, sleeping rough is not associated with economic and social causes. Instead, it’s widely believed that people sleep rough because they’re ill, or because they have <a href="https://www.crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/homelessness-knowledge-hub/services-and-interventions/reframing-homelessness-in-the-united-kingdom-a-frameworks-messagememo-2018/">“chosen” to be there</a>. The role of low paid and insecure jobs, a welfare system that does not pay enough to live on, domestic violence and, perhaps above all, a lack of affordable, adequate homes often don’t appear in discussions about homelessness.</p>
<p>Yet countries such as <a href="http://homelesshub.ca/systemsresponses/42-strategic-response-homelessness-finland-exploring-innovation-and-coordination-within">Finland</a>, which have extensive welfare, social housing and public health systems, as well as well-organised, well-resourced and integrated homelessness strategies, do not have rough sleeping – or homelessness more generally – in the same way that the UK or Australia do. </p>
<h2>The real causes</h2>
<p>There’s further evidence that the prevailing view of homelessness is distorted. Long term and repeatedly homeless people tend to fall within certain age ranges; they tend to be people who were <a href="https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/asap.12004">young during periods of economic downturn</a> – that is, in their 20s and 30s, unable to exit homelessness, and then who are all in middle age 20 years later. This challenges the idea that being homeless is just down to individual characteristics – if that were the case, you’d expect homelessness to be randomly distributed across age groups. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232311/original/file-20180816-2924-136i48w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232311/original/file-20180816-2924-136i48w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232311/original/file-20180816-2924-136i48w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232311/original/file-20180816-2924-136i48w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232311/original/file-20180816-2924-136i48w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232311/original/file-20180816-2924-136i48w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232311/original/file-20180816-2924-136i48w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hidden homelessness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/women-sitting-on-beds-homeless-shelter-184899725?src=FEwvD8BAg_4o5qygC4uqsg-1-4">Shutterstock.</a></span>
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<p>What’s more, the <a href="http://womenshomelessness.org">Women’s Homelessness in Europe Network</a> has pointed out that the focus on the apparently disproportionately male population of rough sleepers excludes lone women with sustained and recurrent experiences of <a href="https://www.feantsa.org/download/feantsa-ejh-11-1_a1-v045913941269604492255.pdf">homelessness</a>, who need lots of support, but who often sofa surf rather than sleep rough. Most homeless families are led by <a href="http://womenshomelessness.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Statutory-Homlessness-in-England.The-Experiences-of-Families-and-16-17-Year-Olds.pdf">lone women parents</a>, who do not have severe mental illness or addictions – their homelessness is often associated with domestic violence.</p>
<p>This is not to suggest that the individual is not important, or that someone’s needs or choices cannot make a difference as to whether they experience homelessness, or how long they experience homelessness for. But ignoring the associations between homelessness and poverty, welfare and health systems, or an inadequate supply of secure and affordable homes, will not address the problem. </p>
<h2>The bigger picture</h2>
<p>Rough sleeping is real. But so too is every poor person and family, living precariously without a settled home – and their numbers are greater. For this reason, rough sleeping should not be the sole target of homelessness policies. Countries ranging from Finland to the US focus attention on sustained and recurrent homelessness — associated with very high support needs - all of whom need assistance, not just those on the street. This includes people who <a href="http://www.evidenceonhomelessness.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/evidence-page-chronic-homelessness-April-2018.pdf">get stuck</a> in what are meant to be short-term homelessness services, unable to move on.</p>
<p>Prevention is also crucial, and there is scope to build on longstanding policies and support the <a href="https://www.feantsaresearch.org/download/article-4592410342917616893.pdf">revolutionary changes in Wales</a> and in <a href="https://www.homeless.org.uk/sites/default/files/site-attachments/Homelessness%20Reduction%20Act%20Briefing%20Nov%202017_0.pdf">England</a>, which will make prevention much more accessible and extensive. And it’s critical to ensure there are enough affordable homes, because so much of tackling homelessness is ultimately about having enough of the right sort of housing available to people on low and uncertain incomes. </p>
<p>Governments which focus on rough sleeping and fail to challenge the widely held assumptions about homelessness are missing the bigger picture. They do not understand what homelessness really is, the scale of the problem and the day-to-day realities of homeless people – let alone what we, as a society, should be doing to solve it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100985/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Pleace has received funding from Crisis, FEANTSA, Homeless Link, Centrepoint, and Shelter, alongside individual homelessness service providers as well as from central government and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments.</span></em></p>Problems such as mental illness and drug addiction are confined to a minority of homeless people – and it's preventing others from getting help.Nicholas Pleace, Professor of Social Policy, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1014822018-08-14T15:06:30Z2018-08-14T15:06:30ZIt takes more than a house to make a home – and the UK is out of policy ideas on how to build more<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231880/original/file-20180814-2897-1h7tw4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sarflondondunc/2878440813/sizes/l">Sarflondondunc/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What makes a home? A safe dwelling – a roof – is a good start, but it takes much more than bricks and mortar. Support for individuals and families, good quality repairs and maintenance, affordable rents and proximity to community and resources help to make and sustain a “home”. It’s also dependent on a secure and accessible physical structure to dwell in – and the UK just don’t have enough of these that people can afford to buy or rent.</p>
<p>The Conservative government made two announcements in August about homelessness and social housing. First came a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-rough-sleeping-strategy">rough sleeping strategy</a> and budget – which it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/13/may-urged-to-go-further-in-plan-to-end-rough-sleeping-by-2027">quickly became clear</a> was “reprioritised”, rather than new money. This takes a small step on the road to deal with the issue of homelessness. But there need to be large strides of leadership, money and joined-up policy to reach the aim of ending rough sleeping by 2027. This is an ambitious aim and it needs ambitious measures. </p>
<p>Government statistics show an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/25/rough-sleeper-numbers-in-england-rise-for-seventh-year-running">estimated 4,751 people</a> sleeping on the streets. These figures are based on a snapshot overnight count, or an estimate from local authorities in autumn 2017, and may well not show the true extent of rough sleeping. The figures certainly do not reflect the growing crisis of homelessness more broadly. </p>
<p>Homelessness is a complex, multifaceted issue. It’s a community challenge which requires a joined up response, not a problem that can be solved on an individual level. While individual reasons for homelessness will vary, the scale of it reflects a structural social policy failure. And yet, there is a stigma associated with homelessness that lays blame on individuals and makes assumptions about their character. </p>
<p>From research that digs deep and gets to know each person by name, asks about their lives before they were on the street, it’s clear that this could happen to any one of us. Research I conducted in November 2017 as part of the European End Street Homelessness campaign in Leicester, <a href="http://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/research-faculties-and-institutes/business-and-law/lgru/housing/end-street-homelessness-in-leicester.aspx">surveyed 93 homeless people</a> over a week of “connecting” – talking to people to find out their histories and stories. </p>
<p>Of those we spoke to, 40% said that their current period of homelessness had been caused by a traumatic experience, such as domestic violence, or some other kind of physical or emotional abuse. Other people we talked to had a range of physical and mental health issues and there were some examples where respondents had a complex mix of physical, mental and substance abuse issues. </p>
<h2>Green shoots or dashed hopes?</h2>
<p>The government also recently launched a widely anticipated <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/social-housing-green-paper-a-new-deal-for-social-housing">Social Housing Green Paper</a>. This was a chance for the new housing minister, Kit Malthouse, to offer a fresh and meaningful policy agenda to address a growing crisis. The document recognised the need for good quality housing and regulation of providers – in the wake of the tragic <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/grenfell-tower-39675">Grenfell Tower fire</a>. But it didn’t seem to recognise the scale of the negative impact of the Right to Buy (RTB) policy, with <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/right-to-buy-council-homes-sold-off-private-landlords-rent-tory-cap-a8189881.html">thousands of homes</a> sold each year and not being replaced, on the quantity of properly affordable social housing stock. The Green Paper does however note that something needs to change to deliver more homes and says the government will consider allowing councils to hold RTB receipts for longer and to raise the borrowing cap.</p>
<p>Government policy continues not to engage with the basic ingredient of home – a secure, affordable and accessible dwelling. It proposes league tables to rank housing organisations as one measure to increase quality – an inadequate response to the totality of Britain’s stark affordable housing shortage. Quality is, of course, important, but so is actual house building in times of acute affordable housing shortage. It is this lack of quality, secure, affordable housing to help people create homes that has cast a shadow over government policy which offers little light for the future of social housing delivery. </p>
<p>Malthouse, defended the Green Paper <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bf4c6g">in an interview</a> with the BBC, but admitted that again only 6,000 houses for social rent will be built in 2019 – he conceded to the interviewer that this might be the lowest number ever. There are “enormous waiting lists” he agreed, but continued to focus on the “stigma” of social housing for existing tenants rather than looking at the massive latent demand for social house building.</p>
<h2>Creating social homes</h2>
<p>In research for a forthcoming book on the meaning of home, I focus on the conditions necessary to create and support a home – including strong government leadership, finance and planning to build sufficient dwellings. These conditions go way beyond just the physical structure of a roof – they include security, safety, quality, privacy, connectedness and affordability. But they are dependent on the physical construction of housing.</p>
<p>The frustration of the government’s recent announcements is that there doesn’t seem to be recognition of the urgency for government-led structural support through funding, policy and legislation, to build houses for people to make their homes. The money and the ideas are not new – ideas on increasing quality are welcome but are only a small and partial response to what is needed. Let’s be bold – don’t raise the borrowing cap a little – abolish it. Until like for like replacements are built for social housing, then a more drastic suspension of the sale of affordable homes is needed to halt the decimation of social stock. What needs to happen is a rebuilding of social housing, not just a rethink of it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101482/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Richardson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New policies on social housing and rough sleeping offer little fresh thinking on how to solve Britain's housing shortage.Jo Richardson, Professor of Housing and Social Research, De Montfort UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1011132018-08-12T20:14:23Z2018-08-12T20:14:23Z'Just a piece of meat': how homeless women have little choice but to use sex for survival<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231420/original/file-20180810-30461-1m6bjnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Homeless women are particularly vulnerable to gendered violence.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2018/March/Homelessness_in_Australia">comprise 42%</a> of Australia’s homeless population. Not only do <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/homelessness-services/specialist-homelessness-services-2016-17/contents/client-groups-of-interest/clients-who-have-experienced-domestic-and-family-violence">many women become homeless due to family violence</a>, homelessness can expose them to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-954X.12365">further gendered violence</a>. Research shows homeless women <a href="https://www.salvationarmy.org.au/Global/News%20and%20Media/Reports/2009/5-somewhere-safe-to-call-home.pdf">experience violence</a> – or feel vulnerable to it – in crisis accommodation, such as private rooming houses and motels, to which housing services often refer them due to the scarcity of more suitable alternatives.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/governments-have-no-excuse-for-keeping-public-in-the-dark-on-public-housing-deals-90847">Governments have no excuse for keeping public in the dark on public housing deals</a>
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<p>For my <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Youth-Homelessness-and-Survival-Sex-Intimate-Relationships-and-Gendered/Watson/p/book/9781138714649">recently published book</a> I interviewed 15 women aged 18-25 about their experiences of managing homelessness in Melbourne. The women described how the poverty, social exclusion and physical danger that accompany homelessness required them to manage their circumstances with very few resources. </p>
<p>Lack of money, welfare support and social capital meant, for some, their only resource was to exchange sex for somewhere to stay.</p>
<h2>Sex for a home</h2>
<p>When asked about their experiences, different circumstances of seeking accommodation emerged. A common thread, however, was the assumption by others that homelessness made women willing and available to transact sex for accommodation. As Hayley said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The bad part about being homeless is that people think they can take advantage of you because you’re going to do anything ’cause you’re homeless. Especially guys think, ‘Yeah, she’s out there on the streets, she’ll fuck me, she’ll do me.‘ The way they think [of you] – as just a piece of meat.</p>
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<p>This perception can be observed in the <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/sex-for-rent-adverts-give-vulnerable-homeless-women-a-stark-choice-20180802-p4zv8l.html">“sex for rent”</a> advertisements that appear on Craig’s List. These types of advertisements clearly state sex is expected as payment for accommodation. But such “contracts” aren’t always obvious to women seeking shared accommodation and might not even be presented initially as a transactional arrangement.</p>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231422/original/file-20180810-30470-1sfp0p3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231422/original/file-20180810-30470-1sfp0p3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231422/original/file-20180810-30470-1sfp0p3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=108&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231422/original/file-20180810-30470-1sfp0p3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=108&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231422/original/file-20180810-30470-1sfp0p3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=108&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231422/original/file-20180810-30470-1sfp0p3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=135&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231422/original/file-20180810-30470-1sfp0p3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=135&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231422/original/file-20180810-30470-1sfp0p3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=135&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some men can exploit the desperation homeless women may feel by offering free accommodation in return for sex.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://melbourne.craigslist.com.au/roo/d/room-available-for-young/6640105490.html">Craigslist/Screenshot</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Alice was looking for private rental accommodation while staying in a youth refuge. Her options were limited to what she could afford on Youth Allowance. When she applied to sublet a room, she told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The only place that I found was with this man who I sort of had doubts about the sort of person he was and basically he didn’t want me there once he found out that I had a boyfriend.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Alice was never placed in a position where she needed to seriously consider the transaction of sex for accommodation because her boyfriend then obtained student accommodation and she stayed with him. </p>
<p>Other women I interviewed, however, had fewer alternatives. For them, survival sex was a viable option for managing homelessness. It ranged from staying with men for a night to longer-term situations where a woman would remain in a sexual relationship to avoid becoming homeless again.</p>
<p>While she was sleeping rough and on her own, Hayley described “hooking up” briefly with a man also experiencing homelessness. Although he was unable to provide accommodation, Hayley stayed with him to feel safer from the violence of street-based homelessness.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This guy was just walking around and I was like, ‘Oh, do you want to come with me?’ I didn’t want to be by myself because I was scared.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sarah stayed in a relationship for six months longer than she wanted because her partner was providing her with somewhere to live and financial support. She told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was very scared of leaving… ’cause I’d lose my house… I’d lose that. I’d lose the money… It was just ’cause I’d seen the pretty side of things. That’s all it was.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Vulnerable to exploitation</h2>
<p>Women’s reliance on providing sex to manage homelessness makes them particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Although outsiders may consider that they are entering into a mutually beneficial contract, this wasn’t the case for the women I interviewed.</p>
<p>Jessie had accepted accommodation on many occasions from men she met after becoming homeless at 16. She became acutely aware of the consequences of not providing sex to these men even if no explicit arrangement had been agreed upon. She explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If a guy offers you a lift or a place to sleep, they’re not being nice. They’re just doing it because they want to have sex with you and they can see that you’re vulnerable… It’d be alright for a little while. Then when it came to bedtime, or close to bedtime, I’d start getting touched and get an icky feeling that something’s wrong. … I said ‘no’ but still they didn’t respect it, so I just had to put up with it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Technology is now changing how women experiencing homelessness can meet men for accommodation. Welfare services are reporting that women are using <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5993393/Homeless-youth-desperate-warm-bed-night-turning-dating-hook-apps.html">dating apps</a> such as Tinder to get temporary accommodation because they have no other options. Reports also suggest this practice <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/homeless-tradie-was-using-tinder-app-just-to-get-bed/8782640">isn’t limited to women</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/why-australias-homelessness-problem-is-getting-worse-despite-a-rise-in-housing-stock-95926">Why Australia's homelessness problem is getting worse, despite a rise in housing stock</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Due to the hidden nature and often ill-defined boundaries of survival sex, it is difficult to regulate and therefore almost impossible to offer protection for women. This places them in highly precarious situations. Until the structural issues in our housing market are addressed, this is unlikely to change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101113/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Juliet Watson receives funding from Unison Housing.</span></em></p>Survival sex can be a viable option for women managing homelessness. It ranged from staying with men for a night or a woman remaining in a sexual relationship to avoid becoming homeless again.Juliet Watson, Lecturer, Urban Housing and Homelessness, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1012152018-08-08T10:22:17Z2018-08-08T10:22:17ZVolatile substance abuse – a problem that never went away<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231063/original/file-20180808-191044-15p42gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/drop-glue-on-tube-squeezed-hand-1044832498?src=vHYomBTWmolwcuSSVg4cGg-1-24">Shutterstock/Butus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsrelatedtodrugpoisoninginenglandandwales/2017registrations">Drug related deaths</a> are now at their <a href="https://theconversation.com/record-level-of-drug-deaths-in-england-and-wales-latest-official-figures-99710">highest levels</a> since records began in England and Wales. In 2017, there were 56 ecstasy deaths, each new tragedy generating headlines and leading to calls for action, such as the introduction of <a href="https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/resource/bulletin-no-24-global-review-drug-checking-services-operating-2017">drug checking in nightclubs</a> and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-festivals-drug-testing-the-loop-deaths-mutiny-a8374126.html">festivals</a>. But others are abusing a different range of substances, a problem that many people think largely disappeared in the 1980s and has been ignored in all the headlines. </p>
<p>Volatile substance abuse (VSA) comprises inhalation of <a href="http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/drug-profiles/volatile">volatile compounds</a> in chemical products – such as glues, paints, spray deodorants and fuels – for <a href="https://www.talktofrank.com/drug/glues-gases-and-aerosols">their psychoactive effects</a>. These substances are derided as a cheap high and use is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17900889">stigmatised</a> in comparison to other drugs. But users report that it can be <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17900889">pleasurable</a>, as well as an effective means of self-medicating pain and low mood. </p>
<p>As volatile substances are marked for household or industrial purposes, they are readily available. Misuse is covered by the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/psychoactive-substances-act-guidance-for-retailers/psychoactive-substances-act-2016-guidance-for-retailers">same laws</a> designed to prevent supply of new psychoactive substances. </p>
<p>VSA use peaks in early adolescence and declines with age. In England in 2016, 11% of <a href="https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/smoking-drinking-and-drug-use-among-young-people-in-england/2016">11- to 15-year-olds</a> reported having been offered volatile substances and 4.4% of respondents reported they had used them at least once in the 12 months prior to the survey – more than any other drug apart from cannabis. Furthermore, 61% of pupils who first tried a substance at the age of 11 or younger reported that this was a volatile substance. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231064/original/file-20180808-1652-1j5okg0.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231064/original/file-20180808-1652-1j5okg0.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231064/original/file-20180808-1652-1j5okg0.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231064/original/file-20180808-1652-1j5okg0.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231064/original/file-20180808-1652-1j5okg0.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231064/original/file-20180808-1652-1j5okg0.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231064/original/file-20180808-1652-1j5okg0.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The SACKI warning logo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bama.co.uk/abuse">The British Aerosol Manufacturers' Association (BAMA)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since 2001 there have been 834 <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/deathsrelatedtovolatilesubstanceabuseandheliumgreatbritain">deaths related to these substances</a> in Britain and 64 in 2016 alone – on a par with the number associated with ecstasy use. But VSA deaths do not simply affect young people. In terms of mortality, deaths of young people have declined and almost half of all VSA deaths are now of adults between the ages of 20 and 39.</p>
<p>The response to VSA in the UK is fragmented and a more coordinated approach to data collection, prevention, treatment and supply reduction is needed. First, we need better data on use and associated harms.</p>
<p>England, for example, <a href="https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/adult-psychiatric-morbidity-survey/adult-psychiatric-morbidity-survey-survey-of-mental-health-and-wellbeing-england-2014">no longer collects</a> data on use of most products in adults. Public Health England <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/substance-misuse-and-treatment-in-adults-statistics-2016-to-2017">reports</a> that 359 individuals presenting to drug treatment services in 2016/17 declared use of “solvents”. </p>
<h2>‘Not real drugs’</h2>
<p>But this is likely to be an underestimate because charities and treatment providers tell us that pathways into treatment are hampered by stigma and therefore users are often unwilling to seek help. There is a perception from some users and providers that these substances are not considered “real drugs” and a lack of routine assessment by treatment workers and healthcare professionals means that a history of VSA is often missed by drug treatment and other health services.</p>
<p>Little is known about how to effectively prevent VSA and treat users. Although there is some <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03650.x">tentative evidence</a> to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26969125">support the use</a> of individual counselling, family therapies and residential activity and engagement programmes, few providers have the skills or resources to offer these solutions. </p>
<h2>Industry’s key role</h2>
<p>The solvents industry has a key role to play in risk reduction. In the UK – and in keeping with cigarette labelling – this has led to the introduction of the <a href="https://www.bama.co.uk/abuse">SACKI logo</a> (Solvent Abuse Can Kill Instantly) carried on almost all aerosol products. Manufacturers should be encouraged to continue looking for ways to make their products harder to misuse.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231069/original/file-20180808-160647-6rwz2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231069/original/file-20180808-160647-6rwz2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=401&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231069/original/file-20180808-160647-6rwz2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=401&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231069/original/file-20180808-160647-6rwz2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=401&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231069/original/file-20180808-160647-6rwz2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=504&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231069/original/file-20180808-160647-6rwz2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=504&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231069/original/file-20180808-160647-6rwz2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=504&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Deodorants and aerosols are also categorised as volatile substances which can be abused.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hand-holds-deodorant-can-on-blue-1025523079">Shutterstock/Butus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One way of doing this is to replace harmful chemicals in products, as has been done in the <a href="https://www.echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/f28ce048-676d-4d17-b939-0c08e9a0db9f">European Union</a>, for example with the removal of the liquid solvent toluene from consumer spray paints and glues. Technical advances might enable other manufacturers to reformulate their products, or to market consumer products in smaller sizes to make heavy consumption more difficult. </p>
<p>Retailers, including the online giants, also have an <a href="http://volatilesubstances.org.nz/retailers-guide/">important role to play</a>. In addition to complying with existing law, retailers should only allow single purchases of products such as lighter fluid. In-store and online signage and displays should not draw attention to products or offer promotions on products that might be misused. Staff and systems should also be trained to identify customers who might be misusing products and shop design and product location should be considered as a way to reduce thefts.</p>
<p>These substances are not “glamorous” and their use is not associated with fashionable clubs, festivals or modern <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-link-between-drugs-and-music-explained-by-science-89132">cultural movements</a>. Few in the media demand that government “does more” in response to the harm they do. Nevertheless, the health and social harms of VSA are significant.</p>
<p>The total societal cost to the public purse in England and Wales has been estimated to be <a href="https://www.bwbllp.com/file/resolv-impact-report-final-11-dec-2017-pdf">£346m every year</a>. Intensive and regular VSA is strongly associated with acute social and economic disadvantage. In the UK, 12% of those dying after use had at some time <a href="http://www.re-solv.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/25YearsofVSA.pdf">lived in care</a>. The relative lack of attention paid to volatile substances and the harm they can cause suggests that society may value the people who use them <a href="https://theconversation.com/record-level-of-drug-deaths-in-england-and-wales-latest-official-figures-99710">even less</a> than those who snort cocaine, inject heroin, smoke cannabis, or swallow prescription drugs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101215/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harry Sumnall receives and has received funding from grant awarding bodies for drug and alcohol research. He is an unpaid member of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), an unpaid trustee of the drug and alcohol prevention charity Mentor UK, an unpaid Board Member of the European Society for Prevention Research (EUSPR), and an unpaid scientific adviser to the MIND Foundation
We would like to acknowledge the contribution of Re-Solv, a UK charity working to prevent volatile substance use, to our piece.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah J MacLean receives funding from The Australian Research Council and the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation. She is affiliated with the Australian Greens. </span></em></p>Glues, paints, spray deodorants and fuels are all abused for their psychoactive effects.Harry Sumnall, Professor in Substance Use, Liverpool John Moores UniversitySarah J MacLean, Senior lecturer, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/999362018-07-16T20:09:50Z2018-07-16T20:09:50ZThe new national housing agreement won't achieve its goals without enough funding<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227734/original/file-20180716-44088-i7gek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There&#39;s never been enough funding to ensure affordable housing for those who need it.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This month, yet another policy agreement on housing between the Commonwealth and state and territory governments came into effect. The <a href="http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/housing_homelessness_agreement.aspx">National Housing and Homelessness Agreement</a> is the latest version of a 73-year-long series of such intergovernmental pacts to ensure affordable housing for lower-income Australians and to fund services for the homeless.</p>
<p>It replaces the ten-year <a href="http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/npa/national_agreements/national-housing-agreement.pdf">National Affordable Housing Agreement</a> and a series of partnerships since 2008 to tackle homelessness – the <a href="http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/npa/housing/national-partnership/Transitional_Homelessness.pdf">National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness</a>. The latest agreement has more achievable performance indicators than its predecessors. It also requires the states to report on their annual financial contributions – a worthy step up for transparency. </p>
<p>But, at a time of growing population and enduring housing stress, the Commonwealth’s latest budget <a href="https://www.budget.gov.au/2017-18/content/glossies/factsheets/html/HA_17.htm">promise to maintain</a> its current funding contribution of A$1.3 billion for the housing agreement means there has been no increase in real funding. Keeping it at what it has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-needs-to-reboot-affordable-housing-funding-not-scrap-it-72861">isn’t enough to cover the costs of current services</a>, let alone increase them.</p>
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<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/australia-needs-to-reboot-affordable-housing-funding-not-scrap-it-72861">Australia needs to reboot affordable housing funding, not scrap it</a>
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<p>So, there is a disconnect between the lofty goal of improving access to affordable, safe and sustainable housing and the funding capable of supporting it. Until this funding shortfall is addressed, any new national housing and homelessness agreements will continue to be essentially different in name only.</p>
<h2>What’s new this time?</h2>
<p>Compared to recent former agreements, three matters stand out as new or refreshed.</p>
<p>First is the policy breadth. Unlike its predecessors, the new agreement aspires to improve access to housing “across the housing spectrum”. This refers to the full suite of housing tenures – from crisis housing to home ownership. Within this spectrum the Commonwealth has set several immediate priorities:</p>
<ul>
<li>achieving an efficient, responsive and well-managed social housing system</li>
<li>support for community housing and affordable housing models that can viably increase housing supply</li>
<li>tenancy reform that encourages security of tenure in the private rental market</li>
<li>strategies to promote market supply and efficiency, including planning system reforms, land-release initiatives and support for home ownership.</li>
</ul>
<p>This broadened coverage is generally welcome, but it falls short of satisfying the <a href="http://everybodyshome.com.au/">calls for a national housing strategy</a>. This means many national policies with major impacts on housing demand and cost – such as taxes on housing investment, immigration levels and income support for renters – remain outside the influence of the agreement. Such policies also strongly influence the prospects of reducing housing stress.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/a-national-affordable-housing-strategy-necessary-attainable-and-maybe-on-its-way-49943">A national affordable housing strategy: necessary, attainable and maybe on its way</a>
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<p>The second, and arguably biggest, set of changes concerns accountability. This includes an expanded list of performance measures, the Commonwealth leading a standardised approach to data measures, and a formal independent Productivity Commission review of the agreement to be conducted within four years.</p>
<p>The new performance indicators replace the targets from 2008, which were never achieved. The failed measures were quantitative in nature, while the new ones simply adopt a requirement for progress (an increase or a decrease, as appropriate), which can be more readily achieved. </p>
<p>For example, the Rudd government’s pledge to halve the rate of homelessness by 2020 has shifted to “decreases in people experiencing homelessness and repeat homelessness”. Similarly, the 2008 commitment to reduce the proportion of low-income renter households experiencing <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/1370.0%7E2010%7EChapter%7ERental%20stress%20(5.4.2.1)">rental stress</a> by 10% has been replaced by a commitment to simply reduce the proportion of such households.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/homeless-numbers-will-keep-rising-until-governments-change-course-on-housing-93417">Homeless numbers will keep rising until governments change course on housing</a>
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<p>A third feature is a requirement for states and territories to annually publish housing strategies. Stakeholders will be able to judge and compare the merit of these published blueprints. These will come after a new set of high-level bilateral agreements negotiated between each state and territory and the Commonwealth.</p>
<p>This highlights differences in housing conditions between jurisdictions and incorporates state-level priorities in addition to those of the Commonwealth. <a href="http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/housing_homelessness_agreement.aspx">Those published so far</a> vary considerably in ambition and specificity.</p>
<h2>The elephant in the room</h2>
<p>While there are positive directions in the new agreement, the funding deficit remains an issue. Despite not increasing its funding, the Commonwealth hopes the states and territories will increase theirs.</p>
<p>The Commonwealth, however, has failed to extend or replace other large housing programs that operated in the past decade. These included the now closed <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/housing-support/programmes-services/national-rental-affordability-scheme">National Rental Affordability Scheme</a>, which resulted in over 36,000 new affordable rental houses, and a A$5 billion <a href="http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/npa/housing/national-partnership/past/remote_indigenous_housing_NP.pdf">national partnership</a> to improve housing supply and conditions in remote (largely Indigenous) communities. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/we-wont-close-the-gap-if-the-commonwealth-cuts-off-indigenous-housing-support-91835">We won't close the gap if the Commonwealth cuts off Indigenous housing support</a>
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<p>As a result there is now less federal funding for new social and affordable housing than at any time over the last decade. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au/Home/Industries/Special-Reviews/Reviews/Affordable-Housing/Review-of-Social-and-Affordable-Housing-Rent-Models/04-Sep-2017-Final-Report/Final-Report-Review-of-rent-models-for-social-and-affordable-housing-July-2017;%20https:/treasury.gov.au/consultation/council-on-federal-financial-relations-affordable-housing-working-group-innovative-financing-models/;https:/www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/106">With so much detailed by so many</a> about the manifest inadequacy in funding required to meet housing need in Australia, we can regrettably predict that the new agreement will not contribute much at all to an increased supply of social and affordable housing. Indeed, this is tacitly acknowledged – the agreement’s carefully crafted performance indicators include no such measure.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99936/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vivienne Milligan receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) and the NSW Government. She is a non-executive director of the NSW Community Housing Industry Association.</span></em></p>Another affordable housing pact between the Commonwealth, states and territories came into effect this month. But with no new funding, the agreement may be different from predecessors in name only.Vivienne Milligan, Visiting Senior Fellow - City Futures Research Centre, Housing Policy and Practice, UNSWLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/959262018-07-15T18:47:02Z2018-07-15T18:47:02ZWhy Australia's homelessness problem is getting worse, despite a rise in housing stock<p>New housing supply is simply not expanding affordable housing opportunities for the poor in a way that reduces the homelessness count. We <a href="https://cloud.3dissue.com/122325/122578/143598/WhyNewSupplyisnotExpandingHousingOptionsfortheHomeless/index.html">argue that</a> this is due to certain barriers that prevent new supply from filtering down to low-income groups. </p>
<p>Politicians and economists often claim <a href="http://sjm.ministers.treasury.gov.au/speech/005-2017/">a housing supply crisis</a> is to blame for the lack of affordable housing in Australia. They say increases in housing stock are failing to keep pace with population growth. </p>
<p>In a 2017 address to the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Treasurer <a href="http://sjm.ministers.treasury.gov.au/speech/005-2017/">Scott Morrison said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… for certain Australian households, housing affordability is an issue regardless of where they live due to economic reasons … However, in Sydney and Melbourne where supply has failed to keep pace with rising demand, the problem is far more acute… The principal cause of declining housing affordability is the failure of housing supply to adjust to increased demand…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet housing approval data from the Australian Bureau of Statics show the growth in housing stock has actually outpaced rates of population increase in all Australian capital cities. </p>
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<p>Between 2005-06 and 2014-15, housing stock has expanded by over 22% while population growth has lagged behind at 19%. Despite this, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08111146.2017.1374945">median residential property prices nearly doubled</a> in the same period. </p>
<h2>How it should work in theory</h2>
<p>Increasing housing stock only works to make housing more affordable if certain <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674543430">filtering processes occur</a>. This is how it looks if the number of new homes increases while the number of households stays fixed or increases at a slower pace.</p>
<p>Those in higher-income households may wish to upgrade to a newer, more expensive house. The established home they vacate would be more appealing to other households if it falls in price. This would then make it affordable to a middle-income household. And the home this middle-income household will vacate would then also fall in value and become affordable for a lower-income household.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/australias-almost-a-world-leader-in-home-building-so-that-isnt-a-fix-for-affordability-73514">Australia's almost a world leader in home building, so that isn't a fix for affordability</a>
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<p>Eventually, affordable housing opportunities would trickle down to the homeless, and the homelessness count would decline. But, in Australia, <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/2049.0">homelessness is on the rise</a>. Back in 2006, fewer than 90,000 people were homeless. Within a decade, that number has climbed by nearly one-third, to more than 116,000 people – a 10% increase.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227549/original/file-20180713-27018-kl93d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227549/original/file-20180713-27018-kl93d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227549/original/file-20180713-27018-kl93d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227549/original/file-20180713-27018-kl93d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227549/original/file-20180713-27018-kl93d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227549/original/file-20180713-27018-kl93d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227549/original/file-20180713-27018-kl93d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227549/original/file-20180713-27018-kl93d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The number of homeless people in NSW has increased more than any other state.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/indavar/37039496230/in/photolist-Yr46MY-pxhMBT-Yr3qeE-XJVSuU-Z3gnX4-YKvdmf-XJW31h-XNt3x8-Yr3HS5-XJWtrs-YKvgBy-XJWaM9-YKv7dU-Z3g9YD-YM56NQ-YKuMoE-fvbxP2-5XiqRC-8369Jd-Z3fRNX-dXN62e-6x2cR2-YM4KP1-dXTKYf-Z3gpci-Yr3pim-81FrFK-jVC4Xu-Z3gaBT-jVAnkZ-XJWyyb-6quFXv-YKvgGJ-Yr3oK7-jVC2hE-Z3fUPB-Yr45dL-XNtvAg-YM4Jvj-YPE7ST-Yr452y-YPEQnX-Yr3Ffb-XJVVWJ-YKvbgd-YKvb37-YKvctd-Z3gpDk-Z3ghUD-jVzA3X">Ivan Wong Rodenas/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>New South Wales has fared the worst. The number of homeless people in NSW has soared by 70% between 2006 and 2016. With the exception of the Northern Territory, all other states and territories witnessed an increase in homelessness in this period. </p>
<p>So, despite the rise in housing stock, most states and territories have failed to contain, never mind reverse, the rise in homelessness over the last decade. Why are the filtering processes not working?</p>
<h2>Barriers to affordability</h2>
<p>Deregulation of Australian financial markets and tax concessions have combined to make residential property an attractive investment, especially for higher-income households. So a higher-income earner would gain an additional property rather than swapping one for the other and leaving the vacated one affordable for the next in line.</p>
<p>And if a substantial share of new housing is being purchased as holiday homes or investments, this can stifle the trickle down of affordable housing opportunities. </p>
<p>The recent growth in net overseas migration is a likely barrier as well. Between 2004 and 2015, net <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/3412.02015-16?OpenDocument">overseas migration climbed</a> by 30%, from 138,800 to 181,050. This has outstripped the 22% housing stock growth rate over roughly the same period. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/housing-affordability-stress-affects-one-in-nine-households-but-which-ones-are-really-struggling-96103">Housing affordability stress affects one in nine households, but which ones are really struggling?</a>
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<p>While migration is included in overall population numbers, in this case, the houses migrants are vacating to move to Australia remain in their home country. So this doesn’t contribute to the filtering process.</p>
<p>Transaction costs (mainly high stamp duties) can deter people from trading up, or downsizing. Transaction costs are a <a href="https://www.taxinstitute.com.au/australian-tax-forum/stamp-duties-land-tax-and-housing-affordability-the-case-for-reform">drag on resident movements and suppress housing stock turnover</a>.</p>
<p>Finally, land and building regulations can play a role. Elderly people who may wish to downsize from a family home to an apartment usually <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/2191/AHURI_Final_Report_No217_Housing-equity-withdrawal-uses,-risks,-and-barriers-to-alternative-mechanisms-in-later-life.pdf">want to live in the same neighbourhood</a>. Yet planning interventions may prevent the construction of units in the suburbs downsizers would prefer.</p>
<p>Until these barriers are lowered, simply increasing new housing supply cannot be the silver bullet that fixes homelessness and the housing affordability concerns of the Australian population.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95926/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Wood receives research funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. . </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Ong ViforJ does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It's said Australia's housing affordability problem is the result of new housing stock not keeping pace with population growth. But there is actually enough housing, so why can't the poor afford it?Rachel Ong ViforJ, Professor of Economics, School of Economics and Finance, Curtin UniversityGavin Wood, Emeritus Professor of Housing and Housing Studies, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/930352018-07-05T10:38:14Z2018-07-05T10:38:14ZBusting 3 common myths about homelessness<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212237/original/file-20180327-109182-tsv16u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What do we really know about homelessness in the U.S.?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-need-unhappy-homeless-holding-hands-350529137?src=qB3J14LK4KkU5QuXSKDhUg-1-2">Dmytro Zinkevych/shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a young psychologist in the 1980s who had researched treatment of the mentally ill, I was concerned by many reports suggesting that the growing number of homeless people may be due to deinstitutionalization. </p>
<p>Over the past 30 years, my research group and I have conducted a wide range of studies on homelessness. In our work, we’ve found that Americans hold a number of myths about this population. Some of these myths have some basis in fact, while others have little or no validity. </p>
<h2>Myth #1: The homeless and ‘poor will always be with us’</h2>
<p>This statement about the poor, attributed to Jesus in <a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/26-11.htm">Matthew 26:11</a>, can be taken out of context to suggest that people <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2017/03/03/roger-marshall-kansas-obamacare/">need not be concerned</a> with caring for the poor and homeless. According to such an interpretation, assistance to the poor is a waste of time. <a href="https://blog.compassion.com/the-poor-will-not-always-be-with-you">Most Biblical scholars disagree</a> with such a pessimistic interpretation. </p>
<p>But will there really always be poor people? Rates of homelessness vary widely across nations. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2007.00521.x">our telephone surveys</a> of random samples of citizens across 10 developed nations, the chance that a given citizen had experienced homelessness at some point in their lifetime varied between 2.2 and 8.6 percent. </p>
<p>It’s not yet clear what explains this variation. Is it the quality of social and health services in different countries? Could different patterns of substance abuse or immigration explain it? In any event, at 6.1 percent, the U.S. has one of the highest rates among developed nations.</p>
<p>If nations vary so widely, that suggests national policy changes could reduce high rates of homelessness. In the past decade or so, the U.S. has dramatically ramped up resources devoted to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/08/04/427419718/the-u-s-declared-war-on-veteran-homelessness-and-it-actually-could-win">eliminating homelessness among veterans</a>. Thanks to these efforts, veteran homelessness went down 35 percent between 2009 and 2015, outpacing the 10 percent <a href="https://endhomelessness.org/resource/archived-state-of-homelessness/">total reduction in homelessness</a>. </p>
<p>Provided with ongoing support services, the homeless mentally ill and other homeless persons can <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9170771">maintain themselves in permanent housing</a> <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/47669330_Housing_First_The_Pathways_Model_to_End_Homelessness_for_People_with_Mental_Illness_and_Addiction_Manual">over long periods of time</a>. </p>
<p>Other research suggests that homelessness can be prevented among vulnerable groups. For example, <a href="https://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/Becoming_Adults_FR.pdf">in a statewide evaluation</a>, youth exiting foster care and detention facilities in Tennessee were randomly assigned to a special outpatient program or to a control group. Those in the program spent significantly less time homeless over the next year and also had other positive outcomes, like higher employment income.</p>
<h2>Myth #2: Homelessness affects only very limited segments of American society</h2>
<p>For sure, <a href="http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/homelessness/n3.xml">homelessness is more likely to affect</a> those who are poor or otherwise disadvantaged in our society. But homelessness appears to touch the lives of a wide range of Americans, including some who average citizens would never have thought to be vulnerable. </p>
<p>Many people mistakenly believe that most of the homeless are mentally ill. Studies done by our group and others over the last 30 years have found that only one-quarter to one-third of homeless adults <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301929383_Homelessness_and_Mental_Health_A_Research_Perspective">show a documented serious mental disorder</a>, like schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder. </p>
<p>Substance use disorders among homeless adults are much more common. Sixty to 75 percent of homeless people <a href="https://www.elsevier.com/books/encyclopedia-of-mental-health/friedman/978-0-12-397045-9">struggle with substance abuse</a> at some point in their lifetime, versus 16 percent among the general population. Both serious mental and substance use disorders are less common among homeless mothers, their children and unaccompanied homeless youth. </p>
<p>Recently, studies have shown that college students suffer from <a href="http://wihopelab.com/publications/Wisconsin_hope_lab_hungry_to_learn.pdf">high rates of homelessness</a> and food insecurity. A recent survey of over 40,000 students across the U.S. found that 9 percent of university students and 12 percent of community college students had been homeless in the past year. </p>
<p>Over three decades, my team has interviewed thousands of homeless people. We have very rarely found anyone who we might consider to have “chosen” a homeless lifestyle. Yes, there are women, youth and others fleeing violent or otherwise very difficult life circumstances. Yes, there are some with severe mental or substance use disorders who have no other alternative to the streets or homeless shelters. If given the “choice” between a mental hospital, a jail or a homeless shelter in a dangerous area of town, some will, with good reason, take to the streets. </p>
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<h2>Myth #3: The public has developed ‘compassion fatigue’ when it comes to homelessness</h2>
<p>Starting in the late 1980s, researchers have conducted a series of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8546109">public opinion surveys</a> on homelessness in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16680536">the U.S. and other developed nations</a>. In the 1990s, <a href="http://dcl.elevator.umn.edu/asset/viewAsset/56e9a0097d58ae654b8b5308">some in the U.S. media</a> started to suggest that the public was experiencing <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/16/us/many-cities-in-crackdown-on-homeless.html">“compassion fatigue,”</a> the feeling that homelessness had become an intractable problem that no longer needed so much societal attention. </p>
<p>However, the evidence doesn’t support this at all. For example, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16680536">surveys continue to find</a> that a majority of the public would pay more taxes to help the homeless. </p>
<p>Perhaps it’s an issue of perception. My team <a href="https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1530-2415.2004.00039.x">analyzed the media’s interest in homelessness</a> over the past 40 years, focusing on four major U.S. newspapers: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. </p>
<p>There was virtually no media interest in homelessness prior to 1980, when Ronald Reagan began his first term as president. Interest then took off, perhaps due to actual increases in the numbers experiencing homelessness. This curiosity peaked in 1987, the same year that the <a href="https://nche.ed.gov/legis/mv.php">first major federal funding</a> was passed, then declined as the media became interested in other topics. </p>
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<p>Since 1995, media interest has been steady at a relatively low level. Given these findings, perhaps a more accurate conclusion is that the mass media have experienced “compassion fatigue.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Toro received funding from the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse. </span></em></p>Are most homeless mentally ill? Is it inevitable that a society will have homeless people? A researcher digs into the real data on homelessness.Paul Toro, Professor of Psychology, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/983742018-07-05T10:38:07Z2018-07-05T10:38:07ZShelter design can help people recover from homelessness<p>Some <a href="https://endhomelessness.org/resource/the-united-states-conference-of-mayors-hunger-and-homelessness-survey/">544,000</a> people in the United States have no shelter every night, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Homeless families make up over <a href="https://endhomelessness.org/resource/the-united-states-conference-of-mayors-hunger-and-homelessness-survey/">one-third of this total</a>. </p>
<p>Beyond exposing them to weather, crime and unsanitary conditions, homelessness can also damage <a href="http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/Shelter_from_storm.pdf">people’s self-esteem</a>, making them feel <a href="https://works.bepress.com/sburn/10/">helpless or hopeless</a>. Being homeless is a traumatic experience, in part because of the <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G18/007/65/PDF/G1800765.pdf?OpenElement">stigma associated with this situation</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.uky.edu/%7Eeushe2/Bandura/Bandura1999JASP.pdf">Recovering from homelessness</a> may therefore involve not just finding a job and permanent home but also rebuilding one’s self-esteem. </p>
<p><a href="http://interiordesign.fsu.edu/jill-pable/">My research on the built environment</a> suggests that the interior design of homeless shelters can either <a href="https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/determinants-of-health">support or hinder</a> people’s ability to assert control over their future.</p>
<h2>How design affects people</h2>
<p>Research has long demonstrated that <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/environmental-psychology-for-design-9781501316821/">physical spaces</a> affect human moods and behaviors. </p>
<p>Office environments with many common spaces <a href="https://www.informedesign.org/Rs_detail/rsId/3547">foster collaboration</a>, for example, while stock investors who work on higher floors <a href="https://theconversation.com/stock-investors-on-higher-floors-take-more-risks-heres-why-92655">take more risks</a>. </p>
<p>Homeless shelters, too, can influence how residents <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062199188/welcome-to-your-world/">see the world and themselves</a>. A shelter with sterile corridor and glaring lights may silently send the message that, “People don’t think you deserve a nice place to live.” </p>
<p>Homeless housing designed with warm colors, thoughtful lighting and useful signage, on the other hand, can <a href="https://nextcity.org/features/view/new-york-rikers-closing-prison-design-humane-jail">send the opposite message</a>: “Someone cares.”</p>
<p>In my experience, most homeless shelters are designed simply to house as many people as possible. Others are so dilapidated, violent or dirty that <a href="https://www.npr.org/2012/12/06/166666265/why-some-homeless-choose-the-streets-over-shelters">people actually prefer to sleep outside</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223826/original/file-20180619-126553-1r7y8kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223826/original/file-20180619-126553-1r7y8kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=263&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223826/original/file-20180619-126553-1r7y8kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=263&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223826/original/file-20180619-126553-1r7y8kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=263&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223826/original/file-20180619-126553-1r7y8kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=330&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223826/original/file-20180619-126553-1r7y8kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=330&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223826/original/file-20180619-126553-1r7y8kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=330&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">These hallways send contrasting messages to residents, staff and visitors. Right: Kearney Center, Clemons Rutherford Architects.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jill Pable</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What unhoused families need</h2>
<p>I undertook a three-month <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264692272_The_Homeless_Shelter_Family_Experience_Examining_the_Influence_of_Physical_Living_Conditions_on_Perceptions_of_Internal_Control_Crowding_Privacy_and_Related_Issues">field experiment</a> at a shelter in Florida to understand how bedroom design could support or hinder two families trying to transition from homelessness into permanent housing. </p>
<p>Each family consisted of a single mother with two children. One family had two girls, ages 3 and 4. The other had two boys, ages 3 and 18. </p>
<p>Both parents had generally positive relationships with their children, had completed high school through the 10th grade and were living in the shelter because they had lost their jobs.</p>
<p>Initially, both families stayed in identical 9-by-12 bedrooms. Each had two metal bunk beds, one dresser, pale green walls, a single light fixture and a bathroom shared with a family of four. With so little storage, the families piled their belongings on the unused fourth bunk. </p>
<p>The bedroom door had no lock, so that staff could check in on residents as needed. This is common in shelters. </p>
<h2>Housing that looks like jail</h2>
<p>After two months, one family moved into a room that our team had upgraded with 18 new features intended to empower residents by offering them control over their environment. </p>
<p>These included drawer-and-bin storage for their possessions, lap desks, privacy curtains around the beds, bulletin boards and shelving. We also painted the walls a light blue. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226015/original/file-20180703-116129-1s13gph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226015/original/file-20180703-116129-1s13gph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=300&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226015/original/file-20180703-116129-1s13gph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=300&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226015/original/file-20180703-116129-1s13gph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=300&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226015/original/file-20180703-116129-1s13gph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=377&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226015/original/file-20180703-116129-1s13gph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=377&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226015/original/file-20180703-116129-1s13gph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=377&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unaltered shelter room, left. Upgraded room, right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jill Pable</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I interviewed the mothers in the beginning and the end of their experience. </p>
<p>The mother who would later move into an upgraded room felt “aggravated and frustrated” in the first space. The mother who stayed in that room for all three months described it as “crowded,” “claustrophobic” and “grim.” She even said the metal beds and hard, cold floors reminded her of jail. </p>
<p>Both families piled their belongings on the unused fourth bunk for lack of other storage. </p>
<p>“The more time you spend in it, the more you feel like the walls are closing in,” she told me after four weeks, explaining that she often stayed out late to avoid coming home to this cramped situation.</p>
<p>So did her older son, who sometimes spent all night in the shelter’s computer lab. His mother worried about her son’s “vampire” hours. </p>
<p>This family seemed agitated throughout the three-month study. They sought relief from their housing situation – and from each other – elsewhere. </p>
<h2>The family’s experience in the altered room</h2>
<p>Things looked different for the other family. </p>
<p>The good lighting and wall cushions encouraged them to read together. They had guests more often. A case worker told me that the family would sometimes spend the entire day together in their shelter bedroom – something they’d never done in their previous space.</p>
<p>Though the two rooms were the same size, a divided dutch door and bed curtains allowed the residents in the altered room to create personal spaces for listening to music or reading. </p>
<p>They organized and put away their possessions in the storage provided, reducing clutter. </p>
<p>The children liked drawing on the marker boards, so the mother allowed them to use it as a reward for good behavior, exerting parental authority in a positive way. </p>
<h2>Signs of ownership</h2>
<p>Tellingly, the families also expressed themselves differently in the two rooms.<br>
In the upgraded room with shelving, the family displayed photographs, art and beloved stuffed animals. The kids played dress up in front of the mirror. These are both <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/17/3/303/1822547?redirectedFrom=fulltextlink">territorial acts that define and confirm identities</a>. </p>
<p>The family in the unaltered bedroom displayed little art, in part because the mother felt it was an imposition to ask shelter staff for tape to affix items to the wall. </p>
<p>When her 3-year-old boy tried to play cars on the floor, his mom told him it was too dirty. Bored, he would peel paint off the wall near his bed. </p>
<p>She reprimanded him for this behavior, causing arguments. The children also argued frequently with each other. </p>
<h2>A place to call home</h2>
<p>At the study’s end, I asked the mother living in the upgraded space how she would have felt if her family had stayed in the unaltered bedroom. Her answer reflected the role housing plays in keeping a family happy and healthy.</p>
<p>“I don’t know if I would say I would be depressed, but I would have had a different feeling,” she responded. “Sometimes you just want peace and quiet” – which the bed curtains and dutch door now offered her.</p>
<p>She also thought her kids might have eventually “cracked,” she said, because they couldn’t act as they would in “a regular home.” </p>
<p>“My older girl will pull the curtains and read books to her sister” now, the mother said. “She feels like she has something that belongs to her.” </p>
<p>The new bedroom, which could be adjusted to fit the family’s needs, empowered them to take ownership of it. I believe such actions may help combat underlying feelings of helplessness. </p>
<p>This small, only partially controlled study is not the final word in shelter design. </p>
<p>But it certainly suggests that <a href="http://designresourcesforhomelessness.org/">shelter architecture</a> can help families experiencing homelessness by giving them a calm, positive and supportive home base <a href="https://works.bepress.com/sburn/10/">for planning their future</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98374/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jill Pable receives funding from the Council for Research and Creativity at Florida State University. She is affiliated with the non-profit organization Design Resources for Homelessness. </span></em></p>Studies show that people's environments influence their mood. The same is true of homeless shelters, which can either help or hurt residents' psychological well-being — and, possibly, their futures.Jill Pable, Professor of Interior Design and Architecture, Florida State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/974462018-07-03T20:08:21Z2018-07-03T20:08:21ZSocial housing protects against homelessness – but other benefits are less clear<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225643/original/file-20180702-116152-1im3cvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Social housing offers stability for those at risk of homelessness.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Social housing, managed by governments and the community sector, provides a safety net to vulnerable Australians. A person living in social housing is far less likely to experience homelessness than someone battling it out in the private rental market. </p>
<p>And <a href="http://infrastructurevictoria.com.au/sites/default/files/images/Moving%20from%20evaluation%20to%20valuation.pdf">some argue</a> social housing comes with a host of other benefits, such as improvements to employment, education, incarceration rates and health outcomes. </p>
<p>But <a href="http://www.infrastructurevictoria.com.au/sites/default/files/images/Infrastructure%20Victoria%20Technical%20Paper%20%E2%80%93%20What%20are%20the%20impacts%20of%20living%20in%20social%20housing%20May%202018.PDF">our research</a> failed to find evidence of social housing residents achieving better outcomes in any of these other areas than similar residents in the private market – at least in the short run.</p>
<p>Prior to our research, there was limited evidence of the impact of social housing on these outcomes. State governments spend hundreds of millions of dollars providing social housing with an incomplete understanding of what that investment delivers. This needs to change. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/australia-needs-to-reboot-affordable-housing-funding-not-scrap-it-72861">Australia needs to reboot affordable housing funding, not scrap it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Improving outcomes</h2>
<p>Social housing is particularly effective at reducing homelessness because it’s affordable, as rents are typically set at <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2018/housing-and-homelessness/housing/rogs-2018-partg-chapter18.pdf">around 25% of income</a>. And Commonwealth Rent Assistance for those in the private market has been <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/02_2015/dss001_14_final_report_access_2.pdf">failing to keep up with increasing rental costs over recent years</a>. </p>
<p>Also, social housing, particularly public housing, tends to be secure with <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2018/housing-and-homelessness/housing/rogs-2018-partg-chapter18.pdf">long-term – and sometimes even life-time – leases available</a>. </p>
<p>Like other welfare policies in Australia, social housing tends to be highly targeted to those with particularly low means. It has also increasingly become targeted to <a href="http://housing.vic.gov.au/social-housing">specific priority groups</a> – such as those fleeing family violence or people with a disability. As at June 2017, around 395,691 <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2018/housing-and-homelessness/housing/rogs-2018-partg-chapter18.pdf">households were in social housing</a> across the country, at a cost of A$3.9 billion per year to state and territory governments. </p>
<p>Government policy generally assumes that providing social housing to vulnerable people will result in improvements across a range of life outcomes. As a 2017 Productivity Commission report on housing and homelessness <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2017/housing-and-homelessness/rogs-2017-volumeg.pdf">notes</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a lack of adequate and affordable housing contributes to housing stress and homelessness, and is detrimental to people’s physical and mental health. Homelessness affects life expectancy, with homeless people estimated to live 15–20 years less than the mainstream population.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In our research we analysed the effects of social housing on measures of these and other key outcomes as well as on the risks of incarceration and homelessness. We used the <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/journeys-home">Journeys Home survey</a> (which measures a range of characteristics over points of time of people vulnerable to homelessness placed in social housing as well as those of similar individuals not in social housing).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/productivity-commission-stance-has-potential-for-social-housing-gains-66038">Productivity Commission stance has potential for social housing gains</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Comparing the outcomes for social housing residents with a statistically constructed control group, we did find placing a vulnerable person in social housing significantly reduced their risk of homelessness. In the period following placement, the person’s probability of experiencing homelessness was 13 percentage points lower than similar individuals not in social housing, who have a homelessness rate of about 20%. This is equivalent to a 65% reduction in the risk of homelessness for social housing residents. </p>
<p>But there were no statistically significant effects on employment, education, health (which included measures of mental health, self-assessed physical health and having a long-term health condition) or incarceration.</p>
<h2>Already too vulnerable</h2>
<p>The most likely explanation for this is that access to social housing has long been targeted to society’s most vulnerable members who already struggle with factors such as employment or education due to age, family commitments, disabilities and long histories of disadvantage. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225851/original/file-20180703-116152-1x7mcjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225851/original/file-20180703-116152-1x7mcjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225851/original/file-20180703-116152-1x7mcjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225851/original/file-20180703-116152-1x7mcjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225851/original/file-20180703-116152-1x7mcjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225851/original/file-20180703-116152-1x7mcjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225851/original/file-20180703-116152-1x7mcjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225851/original/file-20180703-116152-1x7mcjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children of social housing residents potentially benefit most, especially if they live in a good neighbourhood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shuttertock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, long-term health conditions – be they physical or psychological – which <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/2202865/Scutella_et_al_Journeys_Home_Research_Report_W6.pdf">have been found</a> to be associated with vulnerability to homelessness, remain even after entering social housing. Although social housing provides the stability necessary for people to seek treatment, our research tells us this doesn’t seem to flow through to measurable outcomes. </p>
<p>It’s also possible the effects of social housing differ across different groups of people and different types of housing. Young people, for example, may have very different employment outcomes to older people – but averaging out the results means these cohort-specific effects may be lost. </p>
<p>Similarly, it’s the children of residents who may be most likely to benefit from the security social housing provides. Analysis in the <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/lkatz/files/chk_aer_mto_0416.pdf">US found that children</a>, particularly younger children, gained the most from experiments to improve their families’ housing situation. But we did not examine children in our analysis.</p>
<p>The US research also suggests it’s not just the housing that matters, but the neighbourhood too. Children of families who moved to areas with lower concentrations of poverty and crime when the children were young (below age 13) showed significantly improved educational outcomes and earnings later in life.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/overcrowded-housing-looms-as-a-challenge-for-our-cities-96110">Overcrowded housing looms as a challenge for our cities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why does this matter?</h2>
<p>All of this highlights the importance of separately measuring the cohort-specific effects of programs and taking into account the neighbourhood characteristics of where people live. </p>
<p>Our research was unable to sufficiently take account of these factors, as we had no access to suitable large datasets, or those that include the children of residents. Much of the data that would enable this kind of analysis resides in isolation across government departments. Poor links between these sources limits researchers’ access to it. </p>
<p>Having access to data to conduct such analysis would give governments an opportunity to consider if the current approach of only providing social housing to the most vulnerable is optimal. Or whether they should, perhaps, expand the social housing program to capture other at-risk cohorts.</p>
<p>Cost-benefit analysis is routinely used to assess the value of major transport infrastructure projects. But business cases for social infrastructure projects tend to rely on qualitative assessments of benefits. We have the tools to quantify the impacts of social housing but these need to be applied to the right data. </p>
<p>This will help ensure governments make the right investment decisions and allocate resources more efficiently while still keeping equity concerns top of mind.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>David Prentice, Principal Economic Advisor at Infrastructure Victoria, contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97446/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosanna Scutella was temporarily employed by Infrastructure Victoria where she conducted the bulk of this research. The department funded the remainder of the study when she returned to RMIT. </span></em></p>Social housing is important in the fight against homelessness. But we don't actually know that it helps vulnerable people in any other areas of life.Rosanna Scutella, Senior Research Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/986472018-06-21T12:24:15Z2018-06-21T12:24:15ZLiverpool judge's decision recognises that 'home' still exists for the homeless<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224228/original/file-20180621-137717-2f8ym8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/liverpool-skyline-sunrise-over-river-1089001655?src=YPEnA5db3gX83t_uj_X2Sg-1-96">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Stephen Gibney, a Liverpool man, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-44535158">has been sentenced</a> to eight weeks imprisonment for urinating on homeless man Richard Stanley, while he slept rough in Liverpool City Centre. District Judge Wendy Lloyd handed down the sentence not just for degrading Stanley as a person, but also for attacking his home. Justice Lloyd condemned the offence, <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2018/06/19/drunk-man-jailed-after-urinating-on-homeless-mans-face-for-a-joke-7644960/">calling it</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A deliberate act of degradation of a homeless person … it was his home, his little pitch where he was trying to establish himself as a human being … apparently, to you and your companion this was just a joke.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By recognising that a homeless person can have something akin to a home, the judge acknowledges that home is an abstract, nebulous and subjective idea – that the meaning of home can differ between people and contexts. People who are homeless in the legal sense often <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0044118X10374018">feel as if they have a home</a>, whether that be a city, a particular neighbourhood, a family or a friendship group. Some even understand their home in connection to the land, or as a content state of mind. </p>
<p>By making these comments, Justice Lloyd affords Stanley the dignity of having a recognisable defensible space, marked out by his possessions, which to all intents and purposes is his home – and should be respected as such.</p>
<h2>A changing city</h2>
<p>Since the early 1980s, Liverpool has been undergoing economic, physical, social, political, reputational and cultural <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/01443331111141246">regeneration</a>. These processes have picked up pace <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2003/jun/04/communities.politicsandthearts1">since 2003</a>, when Liverpool was announced as the 2008 European Capital of Culture. This accolade proved to be the catalyst for a range of initiatives to “clean up” the city, ready for its big year. </p>
<p>Like many other cities across the globe – New York, during its 1990s drive to shake off its title of “<a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-used-to-be-a-terrifying-place-photos-2013-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">murder capital of the world</a>”; Sydney, in the run up to the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14775080902965033">2000 Olympics</a>; and <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0269094042000286837">Glasgow</a> in its preparations for its own European Capital of Culture year in 1990 – Liverpool’s authorities turned their attention to the city centre. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224223/original/file-20180621-137746-1gyqp06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mathew Street, Liverpool: drinkers with houses, welcome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/liverpool-united-kingdom-october-11-2014-298828970?src=KyTy9-PUqMKMGQ8cRfJiGQ-2-58">littlenySTOCK/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Liverpool, rough sleepers, street drinkers and any other groups identified as “uncivilised” impediments to regeneration were singled out and subjected to a range of punitive measures, including the <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/01443331111141246">criminalisation of street drinking and begging</a>, designed to clear them from view. It was all part of the bid to present the city as prosperous and cultured, and to free it of its previous reputation for poverty, crime and post-industrial decline. </p>
<h2>Scorned, not supported</h2>
<p>Views of rough sleepers as anathema to prosperity and progress stem from the false belief that they must, by definition, perform all bodily functions – from urination and defecation to sleep and sex – in <a href="http://www.supportsolutions.co.uk/blog/client_groups/homelessness/basic_human_rights_are_not_given_to_the_homeless.html">public spaces</a> rather than a private home. Because of this, rough sleepers are seen as uncivilised – and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/royal-wedding-latest-windsor-homeless-police-meghan-markle-prince-harry-a8355196.html">consequently unwelcome</a> – by authorities determined to attract business and tourism. </p>
<p>This has led, in some quarters, to the vilification of “visible” homeless people – particularly where their homelessness is seen as a “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-36445024">lifestyle choice</a>” – on the basis that they wilfully stand in the way of social, economic and cultural progress. They are a social element to be scorned, rather than supported: a view which may have led Gibney – a man with a home in the conventional sense – to perform the kind of bodily function on Stanley, which is more often unfairly attributed to rough sleepers.</p>
<p>Once it is recognised that the idea of “home” applies beyond a formal abode of bricks and mortar, many more violations come to light: from <a href="https://theconversation.com/vila-autodromo-the-favela-fighting-back-against-rios-olympic-development-52393">the clearance of informal settlements</a>, to the enforced displacement of whole populations. </p>
<p>For example, consider the forced removal of the population of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YOy0vQLytn8C&amp;pg=PA74&amp;lpg=PA74&amp;dq=diego+garcia+domicide&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=C5mfOkdmqg&amp;sig=FRlXva6Zq31hMbHhYO5wbZ-wNVM&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwj667bByuTbAhUIBcAKHWiWCRkQ6AEIfzAQ#v=onepage&amp;q=diego%20garcia%20domicide&amp;f=false">Diego Garcia</a>, an atoll in the Indian Ocean, to nearby Mauritius because the US military needed a refuelling base. The phenomenon is so widespread that it has even been given a name – domicide. The “-cide” suffix connotes murder: the deliberate, calculated and wilful killing of a home. </p>
<p>By thinking of the destruction of “home” as an act of killing, we recognise the its true value – home means so much more than simply a place or a building. And, although the meaning of home varies from person to person, those who lose their home – for whatever reason – almost universally experience shock, grief and bereavement. Justice Lloyd’s comments on handing down Gibney’s sentence reflect two vital but overlooked truths: that home has meaning beyond bricks and mortar and that being homeless does not necessarily mean having no home at all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98647/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clare Kinsella does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Judge acknowledges attack on rough sleeper's home, after he and his belongings were urinated on by a drunk passer-by.Clare Kinsella, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/981712018-06-20T20:07:43Z2018-06-20T20:07:43ZTake heart, charity stunts can make CEOs better people<p>Thousands of CEOs across the country will sleep “rough” tonight to raise money for homelessness. But is one night of sleeping rough enough to truly empathise with those who do it every night? And are CEOs who take part in the Vinnies CEO Sleepout just doing it as a self-serving PR stunt?</p>
<p>It’s easy to be cynical about fundraising campaigns and the sincerity of those who participate in them. As marketing researchers, we wanted to know what impact, if any, active campaigns like the Vinnies CEO Sleepout have on participants. </p>
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<a href="http://theconversation.com/homeless-numbers-will-keep-rising-until-governments-change-course-on-housing-93417">Homeless numbers will keep rising until governments change course on housing</a>
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<p>Our study, consisting of interviews with CEOs who took part in the sleepout in Sydney, found participants were quite affected. In fact, the impact of the sleepout extended beyond money raised and beyond the event itself. Besides affecting CEOs on an emotional level, many reported taking practical measures to change things in their companies to prevent homelessness. </p>
<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>The annual <a href="https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/">Vinnies CEO Sleepout</a> is usually held on one of the coldest and longest nights of the year in many of Australia’s big cities. The fundraising event sees business and community leaders as well as government officials sleep outdoors. The purpose is to gain an understanding of the experience of homelessness firsthand, and to raise money for homelessness. </p>
<p>Not all the CEOs who participate are from the top end of town or have access to unlimited funds. Many are owner-operators, or CEOs of a small company. Some have experienced homelessness themselves.</p>
<p>We interviewed 22 CEOs and high-level executives between February and August 2017 who had participated in the Sydney sleepouts over the years. Some were first-timers, while others had been participating since the event started in Western Sydney in 2006. </p>
<p>Previous <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2864937/">studies</a> have shown that an act of compassion requires the individual performing the act to first understand then empathise with the plight of another. Many of the participants we spoke to had experienced this understanding. </p>
<p>One CEO talked of what he’d learnt from the personal stories of speakers at the sleepout:</p>
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<p>Knowledge – the facts, the figures and the realisation that they’re just normal human beings, who’ve had the misfortune of losing a job, whole family disintegrates, mental illness as well. That changed me personally.</p>
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<p>For other CEOs, the experience of sleeping rough for a night, in the middle of winter, is a reality check, which increased their empathy:</p>
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<p>One year it rained, and I woke up and literally had to peel the cardboard off my face. I thought – that’s what it’d be like every night. Freezing, raining. And not feeling safe. If I had to do this day in, day out – how on earth could I get myself out of this downward spiral?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/whats-in-the-name-homeless-how-people-see-themselves-and-the-labels-we-apply-matter-69282">What’s in the name 'homeless'? How people see themselves and the labels we apply matter</a>
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<h2>Bigger changes</h2>
<p>All of the CEOs we interviewed had taken steps to effect change, to varying degrees. Some did it at home – such as by getting their family together to volunteer on food vans that feed homeless people or reaching out to a friend with depression. Another reported talking to homeless people when previously they would have just walked past.</p>
<p>Other acts were on a larger scale. Around a third of those we interviewed made changes in their organisation. Moir Group director Stephen Moir restructured his company’s charitable commitments to help the homeless find jobs:</p>
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<p>We’re a recruitment company, and we give our time and experience to help them (homeless men and women) find work. Everybody in our business contributes. At workshops, at the shelter. It’s not forced. It’s embedded in our organisation. And we’ve helped more than 30 homeless people find a job.</p>
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<p>Apollo Joinery Group CEO Peter Bader changed the way he relates to his staff.</p>
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<p>It’s changed how I talk to employees, in disciplinary committees and the like. Whatever support our staff need, we give it to them.</p>
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<p>Abergeldie Complex Infrastructure executive director Greg Taylor changed employee support services:</p>
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<p>After the sleepout, we added an employee support program. Any employee can call this anonymous hotline and get free support – marital stress, mental stress, health disorders. We pay for it.</p>
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<p>Since the event began, thousands of CEOs have taken part, so 22 research participants may seem a small sample size. But the appropriate sample size in qualitative research is far lower than survey research. The number of in-depth interviews we conducted is <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1525822X16640447">considered adequate</a> to gain an understanding of the theme explored.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/factcheck-qanda-do-about-30-of-homeless-people-have-a-job-95514">FactCheck Q&amp;A: do 'about 30% of homeless people have a job'?</a>
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<p>For the 2018 CEO Sleepout, 1,500 CEOs and business leaders will sleep out across the country to raise funds for Vinnies’ homelessness services. So far, this year’s event has raised close to A$4.3 million. </p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-010-0626-7">Research</a> indicates CEOs are in a strong position to influence the social responsibility programs of an organisation. And it seems some charity events can drive CEOs to make changes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98171/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aila Khan received a research grant from Magnetite, a retrofit double glazed windows manufacturer. She is affiliated with the Australian Board of Shaukat Khanum, a cancer hospital which is based in Lahore, Pakistan.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacki Montgomery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It's easy to be cynical about charity drives like the Vinnies CEO Sleepout. Are they just PR stunts or can they make a difference beyond fundraising? Our study shows they can, and they do.Jacki Montgomery, Lecturer, Advertising and Media, Western Sydney UniversityAila Khan, Lecturer in Marketing, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/972902018-06-20T10:27:22Z2018-06-20T10:27:22ZWhy turning homelessness into a crime is cruel and costly<p>Increasingly, local laws punish Americans who are homeless.</p>
<p>By severely restricting or even barring the ability to engage in necessary, life-sustaining activities in public, like sitting, standing, sleeping or asking for help, even when there’s no reasonable alternative, these laws are essentially persecuting homeless men, women and children.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qlW-Ku8AAAAJ&amp;hl=en&amp;oi=ao">law professors</a> who <a href="http://ssrn.com/author=1572922">study how laws can make homelessness better or worse</a>, we encourage cities, suburbs and towns to avoid punishing people who live in public and have nowhere else to go. One big reason: These “<a href="https://definitions.uslegal.com/v/vagrancy/">anti-vagrancy laws</a>” are counterproductive because they make it harder to escape homelessness. </p>
<h2>Many paths to not having a home</h2>
<p>Why do at least <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-there-are-so-many-unsheltered-homeless-people-on-the-west-coast-96767">half a million Americans experience homelessness</a> at any time? </p>
<p>Researchers find that most people who become homeless have nowhere to live after <a href="https://www.nlchp.org/documents/Homeless_Stats_Fact_Sheet">being evicted</a>, losing their jobs or <a href="http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/domestic.html">fleeing an abusive partner</a>. </p>
<p>Many emergency homeless shelters <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-los-angeles-shelter-shortage-20170929-htmlstory.html">are perpetually full</a>. Even those with beds to spare may enforce rules that exclude <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2776421">families, LGBTQ youth</a> and <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2776427">people with pets</a>.</p>
<p>And when homeless people can stay in shelters, often they may only spend the night there. That means they have to <a href="https://law.yale.edu/system/files/area/center/schell/criminalization_of_homelessness_report_for_web_full_report.pdf">go somewhere else during the daytime</a>.</p>
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<h2>More laws</h2>
<p>As the number of people facing homelessness increases, local residents are demanding that their elected officials do something about <a href="http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/crimreport/meanestcities.html">the homeless people they encounter in their daily lives</a>. The leaders of cities, towns and suburbs are often responsive.</p>
<p>But more often than not, municipalities don’t address the underlying problems that cause homelessness by, say, providing sufficient permanent housing, affordable housing or shelters with <a href="https://www.springsrescuemission.org/low-barrier-shelter-what-does-mean/">minimal barriers to entry</a>. Instead, <a href="https://law.seattleu.edu/centers-and-institutes/korematsu-center/initiatives/homeless-rights-advocacy-project/additional-resources">criminalizing homelessness</a> is growing more popular.</p>
<p>Over the last decade, city-wide bans on camping in public have increased by 69 percent while city-wide panhandling bans rose by 43 percent, according <a href="https://www.nlchp.org/documents/Housing-Not-Handcuffs">to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty</a>.</p>
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<p>Advocates such as the American Civil Liberties Union frequently <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/homeless/article208595844.html">challenge these laws in court</a>. Judges often strike down such laws on the grounds that they violate constitutionally protected rights, such as <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-panhandling-laws-are-overturned-cities-change-policies-1502204399">the freedom of speech</a> or <a href="https://www.nlchp.org/documents/Housing-Not-Handcuffs-Litigation-Manual">due process</a>.</p>
<p>Still, more and more communities keep trying to outlaw homelessness.</p>
<h2>Criminalizing homelessness is ineffective</h2>
<p>Not only do <a href="http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/students/groups/oslj/files/2015/10/Vol.-76-57-66-Mead-Essay.pdf">we and other legal experts</a> find these laws <a href="https://crosscut.com/2018/05/seattle-u-prof-city-cant-solve-homelessness-without-courage">to be unconstitutional</a>, we see ample evidence that they waste tax dollars.</p>
<p>Cities are aggressively deploying law enforcement to target people simply for the crime of existing while having nowhere to live. In 2016 alone, Los Angeles police arrested 14,000 people experiencing homelessness for everyday activities such as <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-homeless-arrests-20180204-story.html">sitting on sidewalks</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://sf.curbed.com/2016/6/3/11852832/homeless-san-francisco">San Francisco is spending some US$20 million</a> per year to enforce laws against loitering, panhandling and other common conduct against people experiencing homelessness. </p>
<p>Jails and prisons make extremely <a href="https://thecrimereport.org/2018/06/18/jail-is-no-place-for-the-homeless-say-police-chiefs/#">expensive and ineffective homeless shelters</a>. <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2602530&amp;rec=1&amp;srcabs=2602533&amp;alg=1&amp;pos=2">Non-punitive alternatives</a>, such as permanent supportive housing and mental health or substance abuse treatment, cost less and work better, according to research one of us is doing at the <a href="https://law.seattleu.edu/centers-and-institutes/korematsu-center/initiatives/homeless-rights-advocacy-project">Homeless Rights Advocacy Project</a> at Seattle University Law School and <a href="http://www.csh.org/supportive-housing-facts/evidence/">many other sources</a>.</p>
<p>But the greatest cost of these laws is borne by already vulnerable people who are ticketed, arrested and jailed because they are experiencing homelessness.</p>
<p>Fines and court fees quickly add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars. A Sacramento man, for example, found himself facing <a href="https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/sacramentos-100-000-homeless-man/content?oid=23694183">$100,000 in fines for convictions for panhandling and sleeping outside</a>. These costs are impossible to pay, since the “crimes” were committed by dint of being unable to afford keeping a roof over his head in the first place.</p>
<p>And since having a <a href="https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/opinion/the-city-is-not-keeping-my-stuff-after-an-arrest/">criminal record</a> makes getting jobs and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1747-4469.2008.00092.x">housing much harder</a>, these laws are perpetuating homelessness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97290/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph W. Mead serves on the board of directors and as a cooperating attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara Rankin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People may not have a criminal record before they become homeless, but they likely will afterward due to laws intended to keep people with nowhere to go out of sight.Joseph W. Mead, Assistant Professor, Cleveland State UniversitySara Rankin, Professor of Lawyering Skills, Seattle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/967672018-06-14T10:43:37Z2018-06-14T10:43:37ZWhy there are so many unsheltered homeless people on the West Coast<p>One-quarter of homeless people in the U.S. <a href="https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2017-AHAR-Part-1.pdf">live in California</a>, despite Californians making up only 12 percent of the population. </p>
<p>Not only is homelessness more common on the West Coast but it is also more visible, because a higher proportion of homeless people are unsheltered. In the U.S., 24 percent of homeless people sleep outside, in vehicles or somewhere else not meant for human habitation. But that varies greatly from place to place: In California, <a href="https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2017-112/summary.html">68 percent of homeless people are</a> unsheltered, compared to just 5 percent in New York.</p>
<p>Visitors to the West Coast may be shocked to find the tents that line cities from San Diego to Seattle. Like a modern-day “Grapes of Wrath,” the tents are a stark reminder of the suffering of the thousands living outside, homeless. </p>
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<p>What’s to blame for such high numbers of unsheltered homeless on the West Coast? The reason isn’t drug use, mental health problems or weather. Rather, it is due to the extreme shortage of affordable housing. </p>
<h2>Life unsheltered</h2>
<p>As a physician and researcher who provides medical care for people experiencing homelessness, I have seen firsthand how devastating homelessness is to health. </p>
<p>Being unsheltered is terrifying, humiliating and isolating. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pubmed/fdy063/4958210">People living without shelter</a> lack access to toileting facilities, sinks and showers. They have no way to store or prepare food and no protection from the elements. Hunger is common. </p>
<p>Sleeping in makeshift beds or on the ground, they get little sleep. They must contend with having their possessions stolen. They face frequent forced moves, which disrupt relationships and make it difficult for family, friends or service providers to find them. </p>
<p>People who are unsheltered are at high risk of physical and sexual abuse. If they struggle with substance use disorders, their use of drugs and alcohol occurs in public, leaving them open to arrest. There are no places to refrigerate or store medicines, no place to receive mailed appointment reminders or a visit from a visiting nurse, no place to dress a wound or plug in medical equipment like oxygen. Without access to hygiene facilities, they are at high risk for <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1714134">communicable diseases</a> like hepatitis A. </p>
<h2>Unaffordable housing</h2>
<p>Some assume that homelessness is so common on the West Coast because people move here when they become homeless, but data do not support this. Most people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-013-9664-2">experience homelessness</a> close to where they lost their housing. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155065">My team’s research</a> in Oakland found that 81 percent of older adults who are homeless became homeless in the Bay Area. Only 10 percent had lost their housing outside of California. </p>
<p>Instead, the high rate of homelessness can be attributed to the lack of affordable housing in these regions. The West Coast suffers from rising costs of rental housing, stagnant incomes for low-wage workers and a decline in federal support for affordable housing. For example, California has gained 900,000 renter households since 2005, but <a href="https://1p08d91kd0c03rlxhmhtydpr-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CHPC-State-Housing-Need-Report-2018-Web.pdf">lost US$1.7 billion in state and federal funding</a> for affordable housing.</p>
<p>Extremely low-income households – defined as those with income less than 30 percent of the area median income – are at the highest risk of homelessness. Nationally, there are only 35 units available for every 100 extremely low-income households. </p>
<p>In the West, <a href="http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/Gap-Report_2017.pdf">these shortages</a> are more severe: Nevada has 15 units available for every 100 extremely low-income households; California has 21. </p>
<p>In 2017, for the first time in 13 years, Los Angeles opened its wait list for housing choice vouchers. These vouchers allow households to pay 30 percent of their income in rent, with the rest paid by the government. There were <a href="http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/06_harvard_jchs_americas_rental_housing_2017.pdf">600,000 applicants for just 20,000 spots</a> on the list, highlighting the enormous unmet need.</p>
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<h2>Who pays for homeless services</h2>
<p>Why are people on the West Coast so much more likely to be unsheltered than homeless people in other parts of the country? It reflects <a href="https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2017-112/summary.html">differing government priorities</a> . </p>
<p>New York City, where there is a legal right to shelter, spends approximately $17,000 per homeless person per year on homeless services. Massachusetts spends approximately $14,000 per year. Los Angeles, by contrast, spends approximately $5,000. </p>
<p>With enormous numbers of people living outside, West Coast cities are scrambling for solutions. Some cities, like Seattle, have created <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/homelessness/city-permitted-villages">sanctioned homeless encampments</a>, bringing hygiene facilities and other services. However, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homeless <a href="https://www.usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/Caution_Sanctioned_Encampments_Safe_Zones_052318.pdf">cautions that this approach</a> is costly and doesn’t provide a solution to homelessness.</p>
<p>Other cities are following San Francisco’s example and creating navigation centers, <a href="http://hsh.sfgov.org/services/emergencyshelter/navigation-centers/">homeless shelters with added services</a>. Unlike typical shelters, these centers allow people to come in groups, bring pets and belongings and stay all day. </p>
<p>Many areas have passed tax increases to fund new housing and services. These efforts show modest success but continue to struggle against the unfavorable housing conditions that lead people to become homeless in the first place.</p>
<p>So where can we go from here? There are solutions to homelessness, but, in my view, these will not succeed without solving the affordable housing crisis that is the underlying cause of homelessness. </p>
<p>For people who are chronically homeless and have disabling conditions, permanent supportive housing is <a href="https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2017-AHAR-Part-1.pdf">highly effective</a>. This type of subsidized housing offers supportive services, without the requirement that people be sober or engaged in medical care. <a href="https://www.usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/FY2017_USICH_PAR_FINAL.pdf">Studies show</a> that expanding permanent supportive housing has reduced the number of people experiencing homelessness in many parts of the country. </p>
<p>The success of permanent supportive housing has been overshadowed by increases in people becoming newly homeless due to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/21/us/california-today-states-homeless-population-drives-national-increase.html">lack of affordable housing.</a> In my view, preventing and ending homelessness will require a commitment to creating housing that is affordable to all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margot Kushel receives funding from The National Institutes of Health. She is on the Leadership Board of Everyone Home.</span></em></p>A lack of affordable housing makes homelessness especially pervasive and visible on the West Coast.Margot Kushel, Professor of Medicine, University of California, San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/972272018-06-12T09:02:39Z2018-06-12T09:02:39ZAutistic people at greater risk of becoming homeless – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222603/original/file-20180611-191965-1hwwoed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/home">via shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tony had lived on the streets for 45 years, and in recent years had become increasingly physically unwell. Despite this he refused all offers of help, and it became clear to his support workers that he found social engagement of any kind very distressing. It was only when it was recognised that he had autism that staff were able to adapt their approach to support him to move off the streets into a hostel.</p>
<p>There has been little focus on whether autistic people might be over-represented among the homeless population. Autism <a href="http://www.autism.org.uk/about/what-is.aspx">is a condition characterised</a> by differences in the way the brain develops, with autistic people showing difficulties with social skills, unusual sensory processing, and a tendency towards inflexibility and restricted interests. </p>
<p>Many autistic people, given the right support, live full and satisfying lives. Unfortunately, such support is often lacking, and many autistic adults <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22546059">struggle to find sustainable employment and housing</a>.</p>
<p>My colleagues Alasdair Churchard, Morag Ryder, Andrew Greenhill and I thought that this might make them more at risk of becoming homeless. And that’s what we found in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29633853">a new study</a>. </p>
<p>We did not try to reach confirmed, clinical diagnoses of autism, as this requires an extensive assessment involving family members, which would be impractical for most homeless people. Instead we focused on collecting data about autistic symptoms among homeless people based on in-depth interviews with their keyworkers. In this way we surveyed all the homeless people who used a specific service in one area of a British inner city area, allowing us to arrive at the first systematic estimate of whether or not autism may be over-represented among the homeless.</p>
<h2>Autistic traits more prevalent</h2>
<p>Of the 106 homeless people we screened, 13 showed strong signs of autistic traits that would be consistent with an autism diagnosis. At 12.3% this is a much higher proportion than the 1% of people in the general population <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/epidemiology-of-autism-in-adults-across-age-groups-and-ability-levels/D4F48E07D1002DE6F75A67FF9A4FFCF7">who are autistic</a>. Our findings strongly suggest that autistic people have an elevated risk of homelessness.</p>
<p>Homeless people in general are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4520328/">much more likely</a> to have a mental health condition. Before we carried out this research we were concerned that our interviews might pick up on mental health difficulties in general, rather than specifically autistic traits. For example, if a person does not make eye contact, this could be due to autism, but it might also reflect underlying psychotic difficulties, depression or substance misuse. </p>
<p>But, the traits identified by the interviews were usually markedly autistic. For instance, one person we screened made lists of obscure musicians and had a large collection of broken electronics. This seemed to be a clear example of a tendency towards fixated interests, a characteristic of autism. Another person was described as talking like a character from a 19th-century novel, an example of the autistic tendency towards having unusual intonation and using scripted language.</p>
<p>We found important differences between the homeless people who had autistic traits and those who didn’t. Those with autistic traits were less likely to have substance abuse problems, and more likely to be socially isolated. These are characteristics that we would predict to see in autistic people.</p>
<h2>Services designed to help</h2>
<p>Our findings stress the need to protect autistic people from the risk of homelessness. Investment in a greater range of meaningful services for this group is vital to ensure that they are less likely to have problems with employment and in finding sustainable accommodation. </p>
<p>It also seems likely that there is insufficient awareness of autism in those local government services which are meant to help people avoid becoming homeless. This may mean that autistic people aren’t receiving the necessary support when they are at risk of homelessness. Relatively simple measures might help them to engage with services or prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place. For example, this could be taking account of an autistic person’s sensory needs: if an autistic person gets overwhelmed by bright lights, something as simple as giving them the option of meeting in a dimly lit environment would help. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222602/original/file-20180611-191940-1j79hrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222602/original/file-20180611-191940-1j79hrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=412&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222602/original/file-20180611-191940-1j79hrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=412&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222602/original/file-20180611-191940-1j79hrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=412&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222602/original/file-20180611-191940-1j79hrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=518&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222602/original/file-20180611-191940-1j79hrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=518&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222602/original/file-20180611-191940-1j79hrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=518&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Support services should consider how to offer support for people with autism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/warm-food-poor-homeless-462894340?src=1W_n-daq4BOjxd0-4tKSDg-1-17">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our research also suggests that autistic homeless people need tailored support that acknowledges their specific pattern of strengths and difficulties. There is anecdotal evidence that this can be effective. Tony, the man who had been on the street for 45 years, was helped to stop rough sleeping through specific interventions designed to take account of his autism. He was given a room in a smaller hostel where there were fewer people and less noise, and where he was not expected to attend any extended meetings or assessments. Where previously he might have rejected support and returned to rough sleeping, in this autism-friendly context, he was able to maintain his accommodation.</p>
<p>There are many more people like Tony who have not been recognised as autistic, and so are not able to access the help they need to get off the streets. We hope that our work will be a first step to quantifying and addressing this previously unrecognised issue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97227/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Mandy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Autistic people have an elevated risk of homelessness, according to a new study.William Mandy, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.